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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


»•  «?fi«&4&j>>  &fcMft^£&Pfelfet*r»  aDO^ft  i«-«^ 


OUTLINES 


OF 


RURAL  HYGIENE 

FOR  PHYSICIANS,  STUDENTS,   AND 
SANITARIANS. 


HARVEY  B.  BASHORE,  M.D., 

INSPECTOR  FOR  THE  STATE  BOARD  OF  HEALTH  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX 

ON 

The  Normal  Distribution  of  Chlorine. 

BY  PROF.  HERBERT  E.  SMITH, 

OF  YALE  UNIVERSITY. 


ILiLiUST^ATED. 


PHILADELPHIA,  NEW  YORK,  CHICAGO  : 
THE  F.  A.  DAVIS  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS. 

1897. 


COPYRIGHT,  1897, 

BY 
THE  F.  A.  DAVIS  COMPANY. 


[Registered  at  Stationers'  Hall.  London,  Eng.] 


Philadelphia,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A.: 
The  Medical  Bulletin  Printin--!!, 
1916  Cherry  Street. 


PREFACE. 


<rteM+j 


THE  almost  absolute  neglect  of  sanitary  rules  in  districts 
outside  of  the  great  cities,  and  the  absence  of  special  atten- 
tion to  this  branch  of  sanitation  in  the  larger  and  more 
elaborate  treatises,  have  called  forth  this  work. 

That  it  may  aid  in  the  diffusal  of  sanitary  knowledge 
where  most  needed,  and  that  it  may  assist  those  who  labor 
in  rural  districts,  is  the  earnest  wish  of  the  author. 

Much  of  the  substance  of  the  work  has  appeared  from 
time  to  time  in  various  medical  periodicals,  but  all  has  been 
carefully  revised. 

The  author  has  drawn  largely  from  numerous  Health 
Reports,  and  hereby  acknowledges  his  obligation  to  all  such 
as  are  not  especially  mentioned. 


HARVEY  B.  BASHORE. 


WEST  FAIKVIEW,  PA., 
November  1,  1897. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

WATER-SUPPLY  1 

Wells.     Cisterns.     Rivers,    Lakes,    and    Springs. 
Examination  of  Wells  and  Well-water. 

CHAPTER  II. 

WASTE  DISPOSAL 25 

Excreta,    Slop-waters.    Kitchen  Refuse  (Garbage). 
Ashes,  Crockery,  etc.    Sewage  Disposal. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SOIL 48 

Surface-soil.      Ground-moisture.      Ground-water. 
Ground-air. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HABITATIONS   5(1 

Dwellings.     School-hygiene.     Hospitals. 

CHAPTER  V. 
DISPOSAL  OF  THE  DEAD 68 

APPENDIX. 
THE  NORMAL  DISTRIBUTION  or  CHLORINE 71 

INDEX  79 

(vj 


CHAPTER  I. 

WATER-SUPPLY. 

Wells. — Almost  the  whole  of  the  rural  population  de- 
pends upon  shallow  wells  for  its  water-supply,  and  much 
of  the  sanitary  oversight  occurring  in  these  districts  centres 
about  this  point.  Many  an  epidemic  has  been  traced  to  such 
a  source, — small  household  epidemics  they  generally  are; 
sometimes,  however,  the  "town-pump"  becomes  infected, 
and  a  whole  village  suffers.  A  case  of  this  kind  lately  hap- 
pened in  one  of  the  small  towns  of  Pennsylvania;  almost 
the  entire  population  drank  water  from  a  single  well;  this 
became  infected,  and,  as  a  result,  sixty  out  of  the  eighty 
inhabitants  became  ill  with  typhoid  fever  and  ten  died. 
Another  striking  case  of  well-water  infection  is  that  re- 
ported by  Volz,  which  occurred  at  Gerlachsheim,  in  Ger- 
many. Here,  in  three  weeks,  fifty-two  persons  were  attacked 
with  typhoid  fever.  On  investigation  it  was  found  that 
these  had  all  gotten  their  water  from  a  certain  well,  which 
had  been  polluted  by  the  discharges  of  the  first  patient. 

In  one  of  the  State  Health  Eeports  there  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing very  instructive  note,  which  illustrates  the  point 
hi  question:  "While  riding  with  Dr.  -  — ,  on  his  way  to 
see  a  patient,  he  pointed  to  a  farm-house  which  he  said 
had  a  strange  history.  He  had  practiced  in  the  adjoining 
village  for  thirty  years;  the  farm  was  occupied  by  tenants, 

CD 


2  OUTLINES  OF  RURAL  HYGIENE. 

who  were  changed  every  few  years,  and  during  these  thirty 
years  every  family  that  lived  on  the  place  passed  through 
typhoid  fever/'  Surely  here  was  a  house  with  a  "skeleton 
in  the  closet";  rather,  I  suppose  we  ought  to  say,  in  the 
well;  for  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  from  what  we 
know  at  present  of  the  genesis  of  /yphoid  fever,  that  this 
trouble  was  caused  by  an  infected  well  or  spring.  Almost 
everyone  of  us  who  has  an  acquaintance  with  the  country 
can  point  to  certain  districts  where,  year  after  year,  as 
autumn  approaches,  we  have  had  one  or  two  fever  cases. 

The  source  of  infection  in  these  old  wells  is,  of  course, 
the  infected  ground-water,  which,  in  its  turn,  has  been 
poisoned  by  some  leaking  cess-pool,  or  privy,  or  surface- 
washings;  in  this  connection  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  discharges  from  a  single  case  of  typhoid  may  be  the 
source  of  danger.  Such  was  the  fact  in  the  famous  Plym- 
outh epidemic,  which,  while  not  well-water  infection,  was 
in  a  body  of  water  vastly  larger  than  many  wells,  and  shows 
how  much  greater  the  danger  in  a  narrow,  shallow  well. 

The  distance  from  the  well  at  which  a  source  of  infec- 
tion becomes  dangerous  cannot  be  readily  expressed  in  fig- 
ures without  the  most  careful  study,  for  it  depends  entirely 
on  the  character  of  the  strata  and  the  direction  and  velocity 
of  the  ground-water  currents.  I  recall  to  mind  a  very  good 
illustration  of  this,  in  which  a  well,  situated  hardly  fifty 
feet  from  a  privy,  shows  almost  absolutely  no  pollution, 
while  another,  almost  two  hundred  feet  from  the  nearest 
privy  or  other  means  of  pollution,  shows  thirty  times  the 


WATEK-SUPPLY.  3 

normal  chlorine  of  the  region.  In  the  first  instance  the 
well  is  in  a  bed  of  compact  impermeable  clay,  and,  in  the 
second,  a  stratum  of  loose  slate. 

It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  state  that  the  mere  pollution 
of  a  well  by  sewage  is  likely  of  no  danger  whatsoever  unless 
the  germs  of  disease  f  ^d.  an  entrance;  but,  when  a  well  is 
exposed  to  leakage  from  human  waste,  it  is  so  easy  for 
germs  to  follow,  and  so  easy  for  them  to  grow  in  water  laden 
with  organic  material,  that  there  is  always  an  element  of 
danger  in  using  a  water  which  is  at  all  subject  to  privy  leak- 
age; the  danger  may  not  be  very  great, — ordinarily  it  is 
not, — but  it  exists,  nevertheless.  There  are  wells  in  every 
town  which,  though  undoubtedly  polluted  by  leakage  from 
adjoining  privies,  have  furnished  drinking-water  for  many 
years  and  have  never  yet  been  accused  of  conveying  disease. 
This,  however,  is  no  argument  against  the  case;  only  a  proof 
that  none  or  few  germs  have  entered  the  well. 

A  point  of  much  importance,  as  indicated  before,  is  the 
geological  character  of  the  strata  which  are  pierced  by  the 
well;  yet  this  very  rarely  receives  much  more  than  a  passing 
attention.  Modern  investigation  along  this  line  has  shown 
that,  for  example,  the  distinction  which  the  older  works  on 
hygiene  used  to  draw  between  deep  and  shallow  wells 
is  of  but  very  limited  value.  Deep  wells,  according  to 
the  definition,  are  those  which  pass  through  an  imper- 
vious stratum  and  draw  water  from  a  deeper  layer  be- 
neath; but  this  can  only  happen  in  a  geological  basin,  and 
geological  basins  are  few  and  far  between.  At  London  and 


OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

Paris  there  happens  to  be  just  such  a  formation,  and  con- 
sequently deep  wells  are  a  great  improvement  over  shallow 
ones.  On  Manhattan  Island,  however,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  well  may  be  a  thousand  feet  deep  and  still  not  be  a  "deep" 
well  in  a  sanitary  sense,  for  the  strata  there  are  more  or  less 
perpendicular,  which,  of  course,  in  a  measure,  excludes  an 
impervious  layer;  so  it  is  over  almost  the  whole  of  the  vast 
Appalachian  region.  Along  the  coast,  however,  the  strata 


Fig.  1.— Section  of  the  Strata  Underlying  Paris  and  its  Environs. 
Horizontal  scale,  eighty  miles  to  an  inch  ;  vertical  scale,  two 
thousand  feet  to  an  inch.  (From  Humberts  "  Water-supply 
of  Cities  and  Towns.") 


are  in  places,  more  or  less  horizontal, — or,  rather,  they  are 
parts  of  some  great  basin, — and  are  available  for  deep  wells. 
Whenever  these  Artesian  wells  are  possible,  they  gener- 
ally yield  a  very  pure  water.  Much  work  has  recently  been 
done  in  this  subject  on  the  Atlantic-Coast  plain,  and 
maps  are  now  being  prepared  by  certain  of  the  State 
Geological  Surveys  which  locate  the  water-bearing  zones. 
In  Xew  Jersey,  for  example,  there  have  been  found  to  be 


WATER-SUPPLY.  5 

three  very  important  horizons.  The  first,  300  to  400  feet 
deep,  in  miocene  strata;  the  second  in  the  cretaceous;  and 
the  third  still  lower.  These  beds  all  furnish  excellent  water, 
and  are  used  practically  in  many  places  along  the  coast, — 
especially  by  large  manufacturing  plants. 

Geological  investigation,  too,  has  shown  that  in  a  region 
of  upturned  strata  not  only  are  deep  wells  impossible,  but 


Fig.  2. — Cross-section  of  a  Region  of  Upturned  Strata.     (Original.) 

that  wells  of  any  sort  are  especially  dangerous,  unless  much 
attention  is  given  to  the  location  of  the  sources  of  pollution, 
for  the  cleavage-lines  of  the  rock-layers  afford  most  excel- 
lent drains  for  any  surface  or  cess-pool  waters  which  may 
happen  to  be  in  the  locality  if  the  strata  should  incline  in 
the  direction  of  the  well.  This  is  shown  in  the  following 
practical  sketch,  which  represents  a  region  in  which  the 
rock-layers  are  almost  perpendicular.  In  places  like  this, 


OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 


if  you  are  going  to  dig  a  well,  it  makes  a  great  difference 
whether  the  ever-present  privy  or  cess-pool  is  located  at 
A  or  B.  Suppose  it  is  at  B  or  in  any  place  within  90°  on 
either  side;  then  the  well  will  almost  certainly  be  contami- 
nated, for  the  leaking  water  will  only  have  to  follow  the 
cleavage-lines  in  order  to  reach  the  well,  and  this  it  will 
do  most  readily.1  The  only  possible  location  for  a  filth- 
receptacle  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  well  C  is  in  the 
direction  of  A,  where  the  cleavage  runs  away  from  the  well, 
instead  of  to  it  as  on  the  opposite  side.  The  privy,  if  there 
is  one  in  the  direction  of  B,  should  be  absolutely  no  nearer 
than — in  fact,  not  so  near  as — the  calculated  distance,1  for, 
if  it  is,  there  is  sure  to  be  pollution. 

1  In  a  region  like  the  one  described  it  is  very  easy  to  calculate  just 
how  far  beyond  the  well  in  the  direction  of  B  (Fig.  2)  the  danger-line 
extends.  Knowing  the  depth  of  the  well  and  the  angle  of  dip  of  the 
strata  (this  is  told  by  an  instrument  known  as  the  "  clinometer  "  ),  we 
construct  a  triangle  as  follows  : — 


8 


B  A  =  depth  of  well ;  angle  C  =  dip  of  strata, — i.e.  the  angle 
made  by  a  horizontal  line  on  the  surface  with  the  cleavage-lines  of  the 
slate.  B  is,  of  course,  a  right  angle.  To  get  angle  A  we  add  C  and  B 


WATER-SUPPLY.  7 

Important  points  these  are;  yet  it  is  very  rare  indeed 
that  they  are  considered  in  making  a  well;  but  they  must 
be  heeded  if  one  expects  to  get  water  at  all  approaching 
purity. 

The  author's  attention  was  recently  called  to  a  well 
situated  in  just  such  a  region,, — a  tube-well,  about  a  hun- 
dren  feet  deep,  with  its  upper  twenty  or  thirty  feet  sur- 
rounded by  an  iron  tube,  and  yet  this  water  yielded  10.4 
parts  of  chlorine  per  100,000,  while  the  normal  chlorine  of 
the  region  is  only  0.15  per  100,000.  Neighboring  privies 
rested  on  the  upturned  slates  within  the  region  indicated  by 
B  (Fig.  2),  and,  of  necessity,  the  well  was  polluted.  That 
the  well  was  deep  only  increased  its  drainage-area  without 
increasing  in  proportion  its  filtering  properties,  for  water 
filters  very  little  in  passing  through  the  fracture-lines  of  a 
rock-bed.  Incidentally  I  might  mention  that  a  number  of 
cases  of  typhoid  fever  have  been  recurring  yearly  in  the 
vicinity  of  this  well. 

In  a  limestone  region  wells  are  likewise  dangerous  on 


and  subtract  the  result  from  180°.  Then,  according  to  trigonometric 
formula,  we  have  side  B  A  and  angle  A  to  find  side  a.  This  is  solved 
by  the  formula  a  =  c  X  tan.  A.  Example  :  We  have  a  well  80  feet 
deep  represented  by  B  A  or  c.  We  find  the  dip  of  the  strata  to  be  43° ; 
add  this  to  90°, — a  right  angle, — and  subtract  this  from  180°,  we  get 
47°  for  angle  A .  Now,  by  substituting  the  figures  in  the  formula,  we 
have  a  =  80  X  tan.  47°,  or  a  —  80  X  1.07  =  85  feet.  That  is,  that 
within  85  feet  of  the  well  in  the  direction  of  B  there  is  exceptional 
danger,  as  within  that  distance  all  the  cleavage-lines  of  the  slate  fall 
within  the  well  ;  beyond  this  distance  these  lines  fall  short  of  the  well, 
and,  of  course,  the  danger  is  not  nearly  so  great. 


8  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIEXE. 

account  of  the  many  underground  seams  which  transmit 
\\ater  with  great  facility;  when  water  passes  through  these 
caves  it  is  not  benefited  by  the  natural  filtering  properties 
of  the  soil,  and  infection  in  this  way  may  travel  a  great 
distance.  A  limestone  country  is  generally  honey-combed 
by  caverns  of  vast  extent.  In  the  limestone  bluffs  west  of 
Harrisburg  I  was  once  shown  a  cave  into  which  a  dog  had 
disappeared  in  pursuit  of  a  fox;  the  story  runs  that  the 
dog  came  to  the  surface  thirty  miles  away,  and  I  think  it 
not  altogether  impossible.  In  such  regions  there  are  a  great 
many  "sink-holes/7  which  are  simply  surface  connections 
with  underground  caverns;  through  these,  surface-water 
pours  in  its  downward  course,  infecting  ground- water  which 
may  come  to  the  surface  in  some  far-distant  spring.  A  case 
of  this  kind  happened  some  time  ago  at  Bethlehem,  Pa. 
This  town  suffered  from  a  typhoid  epidemic  which  was 
finally  traced  to  its  water-supply;  but  how  this  became  in- 
fected was  a  puzzle,  for  their  water-supply  came  from  one 
of  those  wild,  virgin  springs  which,  to  all  outward  appear- 
ances, is  the  synonym  for  purity:  but  at  last  large  water- 
bearing courses  were  discovered  (it  was  a  limestone  region) 
which  had  carried  the  infection  from  far-away  privies. 

Another  formation  worth  study  by  the  rural  well-driller 
is  the  clay:  these  beds  are  almost  impervious  to  water,  and 
what  does  pass  through  a  short  distance  is  generally  filtered; 
many  a  well  owes  its  freedom  from  disease-producing  germs 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  surrounded  by  a  stratum  of  clay. 

Gravel,  on  the  other  hand,  presents  directly  opposite 


WATER-SUPPLY.  9 

qualities.  The  same  property  which  makes  a  gravel-bed 
good  for  building  purposes — i.e.,  because  drainage  is  good 
and  a  dry  foundation  is  obtainable — makes  it  very  bad  for 
wells,  for  it  is  so  porous  that  there  can  hardly  be  any  hope 
of  its  yielding  an  uncontaminated  water,,  if  there  is  any 
means  of  contamination  within  a  reasonable  distance. 

Such  are  some  of  the  considerations  which  arise  when 
one  is  in  search  of  a  good  well-water;  but,  irrespective  of 
any  of  these  and  without  care  or  study,  wells  have  been 
dug  everywhere,  and  consequently  are  almost  everywhere 
polluted.  The  question  is  at  once  asked:  Can  anything  be 
done  with  these  old  wells  whereby  they  may  be  rendered 
safe  as  a  source  of  drinking-water?  If  possible,  it  would 
be  best  to  completely  eliminate  them  and  obtain  some  other 
supply.  When  this  is  not  feasible,  the  well,  if  not  too 
grossly  polluted,  may  be  rendered  more  or  less  safe  by  a 
method  devised  by  Dr.  Koch. 

Koch's  Method. — Suppose  that  we  have  one  of  these 
wells  which  yields  a  polluted  water.  To  begin  with,  we 
take  out  the  pump,  if  there  is  one,  and  pour  in  sand  until 
it  reaches  within  a  foot  or  two  of  the  lowest  water-level; 
the  lowest  level  of  the  ground-water  generally  occurs  at 
the  end  of  a  dry,  hot  summer,  and  for  this  reason  such  a 
time  should  be  selected  for  the  application  of  this  method. 
We  now  place  in  the  centre  of  the  well  an  iron  tube  three 
or  four  inches  in  diameter,  with  its  lower  end  expanded  and 
perforated.  This  end  of  the  tube  rests  on  the  sand  and, 
while  it  is  held  in  place,  a  bushel  or  two  of  fine  gravel  is 


10 


OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 


thrown  in  immediately  surrounding  it,  and  the  well  is  then 
completely  filled  with  sand.  Fig.  3  is  the  section  of  such 
a  well,  the  dotted  line  representing  the  water-level.  If 
now  a  pump  is  attached  to  the  tube,  we  have  a  very  good 
tube- well,  which  differs  from  an  ordinary  one  in  that  it  is 


Fig.  3.— Section  of  Well  Treated  by  Koch's  Method.     (Original.) 

surrounded  by  a  filtering  layer  of  sand;  probably  this  is  the 
best  that  can  be  done  with  a  dug  well.  For  a  polluted  tube- 
well  our  only  resource  is  to  seek  another  supply. 

The  next  question  to  be  answered  is:    How  may  a  well 
be  constructed,  if  at  all,  in  order  to  meet  modern  sanitary 


WATER-SUPPLY.  11 

requirements?  While  we  must  admit  that  this  is  hard  to 
do,  in  the  face  of  probable  ground-water  contamination, 
still,  under  certain  conditions,  there  are  certain  kinds  of 
wells  which  seem  to  give  satisfaction;  for  example,  in  some 
places  deep  Artesian  wells  will  yield  the  best  possible  re- 
sults; but  this,  of  course,  is  only  over  regions  in  which  the 
strata  are  approximately  horizontal.  The  ordinary  tube- 
well  cannot  be  recommended  any  more  than  a  dug  well,  if 
the  strata  incline  much  from  the  horizontal;  in  such  a  case, 
if  there  is  no  other  supply  available,  a  dug  well,  filled  with 
sand  after  Dr.  Koch's  method,  would  be  far  safer  than  any 
ordinary  boring;  this  is  true  not  only  for  regions  of  dis- 
located strata,  but  also  for  beds  of  limestone,  sandstone,  or 
loose  rock  of  any  kind. 

In  other  places  a  shallow  well,  made  according  to  the 
directions  of  Professor  Poore,  of  University  College,  Lon- 
don, might  give  complete  satisfaction,  and,  though  the 
places  where  this  could  be  used  are  limited,  the  method  is 
worth  some  study.  The  following  description  of  this  ex- 
perimental well  made  by  Professor  Poore  is  taken  from  the 
Lancet:  "The  well  was  sunk  in  the  very  centre  of  a  garden 
which  is  rather  profusely  manured  with  human  excreta;  it 
is  placed  at  the  intersection  of  two  paths, — a  broad,  green 
one,  bordering  one  of  asphalt.  The  situation  was  chosen 
for  two  reasons:  (1)  that  it  was,  as  far  as  possible,  removed 
from  any  accidental  pollution  from  the  sewer  in  the  street, 
and  (2)  that  in  the  centre  of  the  garden  it  would  theoreti- 
cally run  the  greatest  chance  of  fecal  contamination  from 


12  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL    HYGIENE. 

the  manure  used.  As  the  well  was  sunk  wholly  for  experi- 
ment, this  was  essential.  The  garden  is  on  a  river-bank 
(Thames)  and  very  slightly  raised  above  the  level  of  the 
water.  The  well  is  only  5  feet  deep,  and  the  water 
stands  at  a  level  (which  varies  slightly)  of  about  3  feet  6 
inches  from  the  bottom.  The  well  is  lined  throughout — 
from  the  very  bottom  to  a  point  some  five  inches  above  the 
ground — with  large,  concrete  sewer-pipes  2  feet  8  inches 
in  diameter,  and  these  pipes  have  been  carefully  cemented 
at  their  junction;  outside  the  pipes  a  circle  of  cement  con- 
crete about  four  inches  thick  has  been  run  in.  It  will  thus 
be  evident,  the  sides  being  perfectly  protected,  that  no 
water  can  possibly  enter  this  well  except  through  the 
bottom,  all  contamination  by  lateral  soakage  through  the 
walls  being  rendered  impossible.  The  well  is  surrounded 
by  an  asphalt  path  about  three  feet  wide  and  slightly  slop- 
ing away  from  it;  around  this  is  a  hedge  about  five  feet 
high  except  at  those  points  where  the  hedge  is  cut  by  the 
paths.  There  is  a  closely-fitting  cover  of  oak,  which  has  an 
outer  casing  of  lead,  and  thus  all  contamination  from  above 
is  prevented. 

"The  water  is  drawn  through  a  two-inch  lead  pipe  which 
passes  through  the  outer  concrete  and  the  concrete  lining- 
pipe,  the  cut  passage  for  the  pipe  being  carefully  closed  with 
cement.  The  pump  is  behind  the  hedge  and  is  provided 
with  a  sink  and  waste-pipe  which  takes  the  overflow  some 
twenty  or  thirty  yards  to  a  neighboring  stream.  In  this 
way  the  constant  dropping  of  water  in  the  neighborhood 


WATER-SUPPLY. 


13 


of  the  well  is  prevented.  I  regard  the  question  of  overflow 
one  of  greatest  importance,  which  is  too  often  neglected. 
The  nearest  point  to  the  well  upon  which  any  manural 
deposit  of  excreta  is  likely  to  be  made  is  on  the  far  side 
of  the  hedge;  and  the  distance  of  this  point  from  the  bottom 
of  the  well  is  seven  feet.  All  water  which  finds  its  way 
into  the  well  must  have  passed  through  at  least  six  or  seven 


Fig.  4. — Section  of  Professor  Poore's  Well,  Showing  Concrete 
Lining  and  Position  of  Pump.  The  diagonal  line  on  the  right 
is  to  mark  the  distance  from  nearest  garden-bed  to  bottom 
of  well.  (London  Lancet.) 

feet  of  earth,  and,  of  course,  the  greater  bulk  of  the  water 
has  passed  through  a  far  greater  length.  Three  chemical 
analyses  of  this  water — one  by  Professor  Frankland  and 
two  by  Dr.  Kenwood — testify  to  its  organic  purity,  and 
three  bacteriological  investigations  have  given  similar  indi- 
cations of  purity." 

While  this  well  which  Professor  Poore  constructed  yields 
pure  water,  it  is  no  proof  that  all  wells  so  constructed  will. 
The  banks  of  the  Thames  are  composed  of  an  alluvial  clay, 


14  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

which,  of  course,  is  very  impervious  to  drainage  and  leakage; 
and  it  is  very  likely  that  Professor  Poore  has  made  his  well 
in  this  deposit.  As  he  has  taken  great  pains  to  keep  out 
surface  waters,  any  drainage  which  may  soak  through  the 
adjacent  soil  would,  of  necessity,  be  considerably  purified. 
So  much  for  this  kind  of  wrell  when  made  in  clay-beds; 
but  suppose  it  is  dug  in  a  stratum  of  slate  or  sandstone; 
suppose  that  the  strata  are  tilted  on  edge,  as  represented 
in  Fig.  2,  which  would  be  a  very  likely  case  almost  any- 
where in  Eastern  United  States.  From  what  has  been  said 
before  one  would  hardly  feel  safe  in  drinking  the  water 
from  such  a  well,  if  human  excreta  were  scattered  over  the 
adjoining  fields  in  the  locality  of  B  (Fig.  2);  assuredly  not, 
if  the  excreta  contained  typhoid  or  cholera  germs. 

The  fact  is  that  one  can  never  construct  a  perfect  well 
by  any  given  rule;  he  must  make  a  careful  study  of  the 
locality  and  the  nature  and  dip  of  the  strata  if  he  would 
have  a  pure  water,  and  even  then  it  is  hard  to  get  it  un- 
polluted from  wells  of  any  kind  except,  perhaps,  Artesian. 
Far  better  to  select  some  other  source  of  supply,  preferablv 
the  one  next  mentioned,  which  seems  to  the  author  to  be 
the  ideal  one  for  many  isolated  places. 

Cisterns. — In  most  localities  in  the  United  States,  rain- 
water stored  in  properly-constructed  cisterns  furnishes  a 
substitute  for  well-water,  which  is  practicable  and  easily 
available,  for  all  we  need  is  a  suitable  collecting  surface  and 
a  suitable  cistern. 

In  the  Atlantic   States  the  annual  rain-fall   is   about 


WATER-SUPPLY.  15 

thirty-seven  inches,— an  amount  which,  with  the  ordinary 
house-roof  for  the  collecting  surface,  is  amply  adequate  and 
absolutely  reliable;  of  course,  if  we  live  in  a  district  where 
the  rain-fall  is  less,  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  size  of 
the  cistern  and  collecting  surface  is  necessary  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  a  continuous  supply.  If  the  house-roof 
is  something  like  one  thousand  square  feet, — and  many 
houses  will  furnish  even  more, — the  yearly  yield  of  rain- 
water collectable  will  be,  if  the  annual  precipitation  is 
thirty-seven  inches,  about  20,000  gallons,  which,  at  ten 
gallons  per  head  per  day,  is  more  than  sufficient  for  the 
wants  of  an  ordinary  family.  For  this  amount  the  cistern 
need  not  be  excessively  large;  one  ten  feet  in  diameter  and 
five  feet  deep  will  hold  2000  gallons,  and  this  would  last, 
under  usual  conditions,  more  than  a  month;  the  danger 
of  exhausting  the  supply  would  not  be  great,  for  it  is  rare 
indeed  that  a  month  passes,  in  most  parts  of  the  country, 
without  some  precipitation. 

The  construction  of  the  cistern  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance, for  in  its  ability  to  keep  out  soil-water  rests  the 
superiority  of  the  cistern  over  the  well.  If  made  of  bricks 
and  thoroughly  cemented  it  will  be  proof,  in  most  cases, 
against  this  contamination  from  the  soil.  I  have  known 
such  a  cistern  to  last  many  years  without  leakage. 

In  the  next  place,  we  need  a  filter,  for  rain-water,  unless 
it  is  collected  from  a  purer  source  than  is  generally  the  case, 
has  a  peculiar  flavor  and  odor.  In  order  to  make  a  filtering 
cistern  out  of  an  ordinary  one  it  is  first  necessary  to  build 


16 


OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 


a  partition  from  the  bottom  almost  reaching  to  the  top; 
at  the  bottom  there  are  several  openings  connecting  the  two 


Fig.  5.— Section  of  Filtering-cistern.     (Original.) 

sides.  Another  way  to  do  this  filtering  is  to  make  two  cis- 
terns side  by  side  and  connect  them  by  pipes,  but  the  method 
of  having  one  cistern  with  a  partition  is  cheaper,  and,  per- 


WATER-SUPPLY.  17 


haps,  better,  as  there  is  less  danger  of  leakage.  In 
ing  the  filter,  which  is  placed  on  either  side  of  the  partition, 
we  may  use  a  variety  of  substances;  three  or  four  feet  of 
common  sand  is  probably  the  best  and  the  cheapest  material 
that  can  be  obtained.  When  a  natural  sand-filter  is  used 
in  the  open  air  the  upper  layer  of  sand  becomes  covered  by 
a  film  of  nitrifying  bacteria,  which  is  of  the  greatest  value 
in  purifying  the  water.  Although  this  sand-layer  in  the 
cistern  is  cut  off  from  sunlight,  it  gets  an  ample  supply  of 
oxygen,  and  it  is  likely  that  it  acts,  in  a  measure,  like  the 
open-air  filters.  Of  all  the  different  materials  which  we 
may  use,  the  one  I  prefer  is  made  of  three  layers,  each  con- 
sisting, from  above  downward,  of  sand,  polarite,  and  gravel. 
Whether  this,  however,  is  much  better  than  one  made  of 
ordinary  sand  is  a  question.  Into  the  side  containing  the 
filter  the  leader  from  the  roof  discharges,  and  into  the  other 
is  fixed  the  pump.  This  arrangement  is  readily  understood 
by  reference  to  the  figure.  The  water  which  passes  to  the 
pump  in  a  cistern  like  this  is  securely  filtered,  and  we  get  a 
good,  pure,  and  harmless  drinking-water.  The  sink  under 
the  pump-spout  may  be  perforated  and  empty  directly  into 
the  side  of  the  cistern  containing  the  filter,  so  that  there 
is  no  waste  of  water. 

While  this  method  of  procuring  drinking-water  is  less 
expensive  than  any  other  way,  it  is  almost  universally  ne- 
glected by  the  very  people  whom  it  would  most  benefit,  — 
the  rural  population.  As  long  as  the  cistern  is  impervious 
to  the  ground-water,  there  is  no  danger  of  its  contents  be- 


18  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

coming  infected  except  by  gross  carelessness, — filth  is  some- 
how or  other  gotten  in  at  the  top. 

One  can  very  readily  tell  if  the  cistern  leaks  by  making 
a  simple  chlorine  examination  of  the  water  and  then  com- 
paring it  with  the  amount  of  chlorine  found  in  rain-water 
collected  in  a  clean  receptacle  somewhere  on  the  surface. 
It  is  evident  that  much  deviation  of  the  chlorine  from  the 
average  of  a  surface  collection  will  point  to  leakage  in  the 
cistern. 

Cistern- water,  even  without  a  filter,  is  vastly  better  and 
vastly  safer  than  any  well;  and  if  the  collection  is  made  from 
a  tin  roof  kept  moderately  clean,  the  water  will  be  almost 
odorless,  fresh,  and  palatable;  such  water  the  writer  has 
frequently  used. 

The  collecting  surface — whether  tin,  wood,  or  slate — 
should  be  protected  from  overhanging  trees,  and  a  "cut-off" 
should  be  placed  in  the  spouting,  so  that  the  first  washings 
from  the  roof  may  be  turned  into  the  street  gutter;  in  this 
way  dust,  droppings  of  birds,  etc.,  are  washed  away  before 
the  water  is  allowed  to  run  into  the  cistern. 

The  use  of  rain-water,  too,  furnishes  a  means  whereby 
the  rural  householder  may  have  water  under  pressure  in  his 
house,  if  he  so  desires.  To  have  this  great  comfort  people 
generally  think  it  necessary  to  have  an  hydraulic  ram,  a 
force-pump,  or  some  other  expensive  arrangement.  By  using 
rain-water  all  one  needs  is  a  tank  placed  in  one  of  the  upper 
vacant  rooms  and  a  series  of  distributing  pipes  to  the  bath, 
kitchen,  or  wherever  one  wishes  running  water.  The  tank 


WATER-SUPPLY.  19 

is  large  or  small  according  to  the  needs  of  the  service.  Into 
the  tank  a  branch  pipe  with  a  "cut-off"  leads  from  the 
roof -spouting;  when  the  tank  is  filled  the  "cut-off"  is  turned 
and  the  water  goes  in  another  direction.  The  only  care 
necessary  is  to  see,  from  time  to  time,  that  the  tank  does  not 
get  empty  and  that  it  is  cleaned  at  proper  intervals.  In 
one  instance  where  this  kind  of  water-service  was  used,  the 
stable-roof  was  also  utilized.  A  tank  was  placed  in  the  loft 
and  the  leader  from  the  roof  turned  into  it;  by  this  means 
the  stable  was  furnished  with  water  and  there  was  a  plenti- 
ful supply  for  watering  the  adjacent  garden  and  lawn. 

Rivers,  Lakes,  and  Springs. — Many  small  towns  are  be- 
ginning to  seek  a  public  water-supply  from  neighboring 
rivers,  lakes,  or  springs.  Such  a  source  would  seem  desir- 
able in  a  good  many  cases;  but  giving  a  town  water-pipes 
without  sewer-pipes  is  like  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse, 
unless  we  first  teach  the  people  how  to  make  suitable  drains- 
and  how  to  make  and  use  earth-closets;  if  they  use  cess- 
pools— and  that  is  what  they  always  do  use  when  there  is  a 
public  water-service — the  polluted  soil-water  will  event- 
ually soak  into  the  water-pipes,  and  the  "last  state  will  be 
worse  than  the  first." 

While  any  ordinary  mountain-stream  would  seem,  on  first 
thought,  to  furnish  a  pure  and  undefiled  water,  there  are 
certain  points  to  be  considered  before  selecting  such  a 
supply.  On  account  of  the  limited  gathering-grounds  of  a 
small  stream,  there  is  much  more  danger  of  infection  than 
in  a  large  river.  The  discharges  of  one  typhoid  patient, 


20  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 

placed  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  or  the  Delaware, 
is  not  likely  to  cause  danger  to  any  great  extent,  but  similar 
discharges  on  the  banks  of  a  narrow  mountain-brook  caused 
the  fearful  epidemic  of  Plymouth;  so,  on  this  score  alone, 
the  "babbling  brook"  is  not  as  ideal  a  source  of  supply  as 
some  large  river.  In  selecting  a  stream,  lake,  or  spring, 
other  things  being  equal,  we  should  take  one  having  a  wild, 
uncultivated,  and  uninhabited  gathering-ground,  and  this 
should  be,  by  all  means,  under  the  supervision  of  the  people 
using  the  water. 

The  pollution  of  public  water-supplies  is  an  interesting 
and  instructive  study;  sometimes  the  water  is  actually 
fouled  by  sewers  from  the  very  town  itself;  the  people  are, 
in  fact,  drinking  their  own  waste.  This  is  the  case  with 
Harrisburg,  Penna.,  where  the  intake  of  the  city-works 
opens  into  the  river  only  a  short  distance  from  the  shore 
and  directly  below  the  mouths  of  several  sewers. 

In  rivers  flowing  through  coal  regions  there  is  another 
kind  of  pollution  which  sometimes  enters  into  the  question 
of  a  water-supply;  while  the  regions  where  this  occurs  are 
not  very  numerous,  it  is  still  worth  noting.  This  pollution 
is  caused  by  drainage-water  from  coal  mines;  it  consists 
chemically  of  a  solution  of  protosulphate  of  iron,  and  forms, 
when  concentrated,  a  black,  turbid  stream  from  its  sus- 
pended coal-dust;  when  more  diluted,  it  is  of  a  peculiar  sul- 
phury color,  and  gives  a  white  deposit  on  rocks  lining  its 
course.  In  Pennsylvania  this  goes  by  the  name  of  "sulphur- 
water";  but  this  is  a  misnomer,  for  the  color  is  due,  not  to 


WATER-SUPPLY.  21 

sulphur,  but  to  oxide  of  iron.  The  protosulphate,  which  is 
about  the  only  important  chemical  constituent,  decomposes 
under  the  influence  of  sunlight  and  oxygen,  and  yields  a 
sequisulphate  and  a  hydrated  oxide;  so  much  we  know  from 
the  laboratory  of  the  chemist,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  result  is  any  different  outside  of  the  labora- 
tory. The  oxide,  however,  is  not  a  bad  thing,  for  it  assists 
somewhat  in  purifying  the  water,  but  the  sesquisulphate 
is  an  astringent  which,  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  tannic 
acid  of  tea  or  coffee,  has  a  tendency  to  make  tannate  of  iron, 
and  tannate  of  iron  is  popularly  known  as  "ink."  For  this 
reason  waters  contaminated  with  mine-drainage  are  not  suit- 
able for  town-supplies,  and  not  only  that,  but  they  destroy 
more  or  less  the  vegetable  and  animal  life  in  their  respective 
courses. 

I  have  seen  small  streams  in  Northern  Pennsylvania 
which  were  as  black,  as  ink,  and  a  good  deal  thicker,  from 
this  drainage.  No  living  thing  inhabits  their  waters  nor 
seeks  their  banks, — a  Nineteenth  Century  representation  of 
the  fabled  Styx. 

To  purify  a  stream  encumbered  by  mine-drainage,  it  is 
necessary  to  filter  it  through  beds  of  limestone;  by  this 
means  the  sulphate  of  iron  is  changed  into  sulphate  of  lime, 
which  is  harmless,  although  it  adds  some  hardness  to  the 
water.  The  excessive  amount  of  free  coal-dust  which  these 
waters  sometimes  carry  may  be  removed  by  any  kind  of  a 
gravel  or  broken-stone  filter.  In  some  of  the  large  rivers 
this  drainage  occupies  only  a  small  part  of  its  width,  and 


22  OUTLINES  OF  RURAL  HYGIENE. 

water  for  drinking  may  be  obtained  by  extending  the  water- 
pipes  beyond  the  "sulphur-stream." 

Examination  of  Wells  and  Well-water. — The  physician 
in  isolated  localities  is  frequently  called  upon  to  give  an 
opinion  as  to  whether  or  not  a  certain  well  is  fit  for  use. 
He  has  to  depend  upon  his  own  resources,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  examination  be  as  simple  as  possible  and  at 
the  same  time  reliable.  Each  well  is  a  factor  by  itself,  and 
should  be  studied  as  to  the  geological  strata  which  it  pierces, 
the  position  of  the  sources  of  possible  pollution,  and  the 
relative  amount  of  chlorine  it  contains.  The  old  idea  that 
a  well  drains  a  cone-shaped  area  whose  base  is  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  times  its  depth  approximates,  perhaps,  the 
truth,  but  so  much  depends  on  the  character  of  the  rock- 
strata  that  ij$  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any  definite  rule; 
it  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  whether  the  well 
taps  the  ground-water  through  a  thick,  heavy  clay,  or 
whether  it  draws  its  supply  from  a  gravel-bed,  from  slate, 
sandstone,  limestone,  or  a  more  impervious  rock;  it  makes 
much  difference  whether  the  strata  are  horizontal  or  "turned 
on  edge."  The  proximity  of  a  source  of  pollution  count? 
for  little  as  to  a  distance  in  feet;  the  position  studied  in 
regard  to  the  slope  of  the  strata  and  the  direction  of  the 
ground-water  currents  mean  much  more  in  laying  bare  a 
source  of  trouble. 

In  examining  the  water  we  want  to  find  out  if  it  con- 
tains pathogenic  germs  or  if  it  is  likely  to.  The  detection  of 
these  is  probably  not  available  to  many  country  practition- 


WATEE-SUPPLY.  23 

ers.  Disease-germs  only  come  into  a  drinking-water  through 
the  medium  of  organic  waste,  and,  in  the  absence  of  our 
ability  to  detect  the  germs,  we  have  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
detection  of  the  pollution  with  which  the  germs  are  asso- 
ciated,— sewage,  privy,  stable  leakage,  etc.  If  a  well  shows 
that  it  is  not  polluted  with  such  material,  it  is  most  likely 
free  of  pathogenic  germs,  and  is  almost  certainly  not  a 
factor  in  producing  disease. 

To  find  out  this  kind  of  pollution  a  simple  chlorine  ex- 
amination is  generally  all  that  is  necessary.  I  do  not,  for 
a  moment,  depreciate  the  elaborate  analyses  for  organic 
matter,  nitrates,  etc.,  but  these  are  not  available  in  the  out- 
lying districts,  and  they  are  not  actually  necessary  in  a  good 
many  cases  of  well-water  examination,  especially  in  times 
of  epidemics.  If  we  know  the  normal  chlorine  of  the  region 
(see  "Appendix") — i.e.,  the  amount  of  chlorine  present  in 
unpolluted  springs  and  rivers — we  can  readily  judge  the 
amount  of  pollution  of  a  given  water;  of  course,  chlorine  in 
a  water  may  represent  only  past  pollution,  but  in  a  sanitary 
way  this  does  not  count  for  much,  for  we  can  never  tell  at 
what  moment  the  old  lines  of  drainage  might  not  be  re- 
established, and  for  that  reason  a  well  once  polluted  pre- 
sents an  ever-present  danger,  unless  the  source  of  former 
pollution  can  be  absolutely  abolished. 

Although  we  judge  the  amount  of  pollution  by  the  vari- 
ation from  the  normal  chlorine,  we  should  not  make  this 
absolute  and  condemn  every  well  which  shows  excess,  for 
some  excess  above  the  normal,  although  pointing  almost 


24  OUTLINES    OF    BUBAL    HYGIENE. 

positively  to  pollution,  is  allowable  and  does  not  necessarily 
mean  dangerous  pollution. 

What  each  physician  should  do,  if  he  lives  in  a  locality 
supplied  by  well-water,  is  to  ascertain  the  chlorine  normal 
of  the  district,  and,  if  a  well  shows  a  water  containing 
chlorine  much  above  this  amount,  it  should  be  viewed  with 
suspicion  and  judgment  passed  accordingly. 

The  following  list,  taken  from  several  Health  Keports, 
gives  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  chlorine  in  certain  waters 
not  excessively  polluted: — 

Naugatauk  Eiver,  0.16        parts  per  100,000. 

Charles  River,  0.43-0.80    «       « 

Housatonic  Eiver,  0.16 

Croton  Eiver,  0.44 

Schuylkill  Eiver,  0.57 

Delaware  Eiver,  0.25 

Spring,  Penna.,  0.50 

Spring,  Conn.,  0.17  "       " 

Well,  Penna.,  0.20 


CHAPTER  II. 

WASTE  DISPOSAL. 

THE  disposal  of  waste  in  country  places  presents  features 
entirely  different  from  that  of  a  city,  inasmuch  as  in  the 
country  this  duty  depends  upon  individual  effort,  and  indi- 
vidual effort,  be  it  ever  so  good,  is  a  poor  substitute  for 
municipal  oversight  where  sewage  and  garbage  disposal  and 
e  \~ery  other  sanitary  requirement  must  conform  to  a  definite 
rule. 

Excreta. — First  in  order,  and  perhaps,  too,  in  impor- 
tance, comes  the  disposal  of  human  excreta;  and  this,  in  the 
absence  of  water-service,  is  very  important,  for  we  have 
learned  that  one  of  the  most  common  causes  of  preventable 
diseases  in  the  country  comes  from  well-water  polluted  by 
leakage  from  cess-pools  and  privies.  If  there  is  one  sanitary 
necessity  which  stands  pre-eminently  above  all  the  rest,  it 
is,  probably,  the  substitution  of  the  earth-closet  for  these 
foul  privies  and  cess-pools,  which  undoubtedly  contaminate 
the  ground-water.  We  know  so  little  about  the  changes  of 
the  water  in  the  soil  and  so  little  about  the  life-history  of 
the  germs  of  certain  water-borne  diseases,  that  there  is 
danger  whenever  the  ground-water  is  exposed  to  excreta.  It 
is  a  fact  that  the  privies  in  most  villages  are  rarely  emptied, 
and  one  sanitarian  has  explained  this  on  the  supposition 
that  the  wells  draw  a  good  deal  of  their  water  from  the 

(25) 


26  OUTLINES   OF   EURAL   HYGIENE. 

urine  of  neighboring  privies;  and  this  can  very  readily  be 
the  state  of  affairs  in  many  places. 

Privies  should  be  absolutely  abolished  unless  they  are 
placed  far  from  any  well  and  made  perfectly  water-tight. 
Instead  of  a  privy-vault,  it  is  better  to  use  dry  earth-closets. 
In  the  average  country  town  not  one  person  in  a  thousand 
uses  an  earth-closet  or,  in  fact,  seems  to  know  anything 
about  it.  If  we  could  get  village  dwellers  to  understand  the 
sanitary  value  of  this  method  of  excretal  disposal,  it  would 
be  a  great  step  in  progress.  There  are  very  many  ways  and 
methods  of  making  these  dry  closets.  The  following,  which 
is  one  of  the  simplest,  is  that  recommended  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania State  Board  of  Health;  it  is  so  easily  made  that 
there  is  no  excuse  why  every  rural  dweller  should  not  have 
one: — 

"The  body  is  a  plain  pine  box;  its  sides  are  14  inches 
high,  its  depth  18  inches,  and  length  about  30  inches.  It  is 
divided  into  two  compartments, — one  18x18  inches  and  the 
other  18x12  inches.  The  larger  of  these  compartments  has 
no  bottom;  the  smaller  is  a  tight  one.  On  top  are  two 
covers.  The  lower  one,  hinged  to  the  upper  edge  of  the 
back,  extends  all  the  way  across  both  compartments.  In 
this  lower  cover  is  cut  the  seat, — over  the  centre  of  the 
larger  compartment.  The  upper  cover  is  hinged  to  the 
lower  one  and  may  be  raised  independently;  it  is  made  the 
size  of  the  large  compartment,  and  both  have  a  little  edge 
projecting  to  facilitate  lifting  them."  The  receiving  vessel 
is  a  galvanized-iron  bucket  (an  old  coal-bucket  will  answer) 


28  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 

as  large  as  will  stand  in  the  compartment  with  the  covers 
down.  The  small  compartment  is  filled  with  dry,  sifted 
anthracite  coal  ashes,  or  whatever  else  is  used,  a  scoop  placed 
in  it,  and  the  commode  is  ready  for  use. 

After  using,  the  lower  cover  is  raised,  exposing  both 
compartments.  A  small  quantity  of  the  ashes  is  then  taken 
in  the  scoop  and  scattered  over  the  contents  of  the  hod.  A 
closet  such  as  this  may  be  placed  anywhere  in  the  house 
or  in  the  old  privy,  and  with  proper  care  is  absolutely  odor- 
less. The  material  for  use  in  these  closets  may  be  either 
ashes  or  dry  earth;  in  summer  dry  earth  may  be  taken 
directly  from  the  garden-bed,  exposed  to  the  sun  for  a  short 
time,  and,  for  use  in  winter,  stored  in  barrels.  Ashes — - 
finely  sifted  from  anthracite  coal — are  perhaps  better,  if 
the  closet  is  in  the  house,  for  the  ashes  are  lighter  and  more 
absorbent;  dry  earth,  if  much  urine  is  allowed  to  pass  into 
the  hopper,  becomes  muddy  and  heavy. 

The  disposal  of  the  contents  of  the  closet  is,  perhaps, 
the  stumbling-block  to  many.  This  material,  whether  ashes 
or  earth  has  been  used,  may  be  placed  on  a  corner  of  the 
garden-bed  and  covered  with  a  little  earth,  or  it  may  be 
buried  a  few  inches  under  the  soil;  lastly,  it  may  be  kept 
in  a  dry  place,  covered  with  earth  and  carted  away  at  some 
suitable  time  by  the  farmer  for  use  as  fertilizer.  In  places 
where  earth  or  ashes  are  scarce  the  contents  may  be  allowed 
to  humify  in  a  dry  shed  and  this  humus  used  again;  this 
may  be  repeated  many  times.  The  agent  of  disposal  in  all 
cases  is  the  nitrifying  bacteria.  To  be  sure,  if  too  much  ash 


WASTE   DISPOSAL. 


is  used,  nitrification  is  delayed;  but  with  the  mixture  of  a 
little,  earth  the  organic  matter  all  disappears  in  due  time. 

Last  year  I  made  some  experiments  in  regard  to  the 
length  of  time  required  for  the  disposal  of  excreta  when 


Fig.  7.— A  Model  Dry  Closet.     (Original.) 

buried  under  four  or  five  inches  of  soil.  In  summer  the 
time  was  about  two  weeks,  which  corresponds  to  the  time 
observed  by  Professor  Poore.  In  January — in  the  coldest 
month  of  the  year — the  excreta,  when  mixed  with  ashes 


30  OUTLINES    OF    KUKAL    HYGIENE. 

and  buried,  had  completely  disappeared  in  four  weeks,  al- 
though most  of  the  time  the  surface-soil  was  completely 
frozen,  and  at  the  time  of  examination  was  so  hard  that  I 
had  to  use  a  pick. 

If  one  desires  a  more  elaborate  commode  it  may  be  made 
somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  modern  water-closet.  A 
design  of  this  fashion  is  shown  in  Fig.  7.  The  pail  is  made 
of  ornamental  agateware,  and  upon  this  rests  the  seat  of 
mahogany,  walnut,  or  oak,  exactly  the  same  as  is  used  in 
the  water-closet.  A  pail  which  is  open  in  this  manner  pos- 
sesses the  advantages  of  the  open  water-closet  in  that  there 
is  no  hiding-place  for  dirt.  The  ashes  may  be  kept  in  a 
box  beside  the  pail. 

Another  way  of  using  the  earth-closet,  especially  .for 
schools  or  large  dwellings,  is  to  have  a  privy  constructed 
with  what  is  called  a  "dry  catch."  A  pit  is  dug,  about  three 
feet  deep,  which  has  its  two  sides,  front,  and  back  lined  with 
brick;  in  the  back  an  open  space  is  left  for  a  door  of  wire 
netting,  and  an  inclined  pathway  is  made  from  the  bottom 
of  the  closet  to  the  surface,  unless  the  privy  should  happen 
to  be  built  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  when  this  would  not,  of 
course,  be  necessary. 

The  floor  of  the  vault  is  concreted  and  inclined  as  in- 
dicated in  the  drawing.  The  urine  which  is  voided  flows 
backward  into  a  gutter,  which  is  filled  with  some  absorbent, 
— sawdust,  ashes,  or  dry  earth. 

The  pan  under  the  seat  is  made  of  galvanized  iron,  and 
a  flap  is  attached  to  the  lower  end  to  prevent  an  upward 


Fig.  8.— "  Dry-Catch  "  Privy.     (Modified,  after  Poore.) 


32  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

draft;  this  flap  may  be  balanced  so  as  to  work  automatically, 
or  may  be  worked  by  a  chain.  After  use,  earth  or  ashes  is 
put  in  the  pan  just  as  in  any  other  closet. 

In  a  privy  of  this  sort  the  humification  of  the  faeces  will 
continue,  although  no  earth  is  added.  Poore  narrates  a 
case  where,  by  neglect  of  the  scavenger,  the  "contents  had 
not  been  removed  for  two  months;  still  the  bottom  of  the 
mass  had.  humified  and  become  inoffensive."  The  proper 
way  for  such  a  closet  to  be  utilized  by  country  schools 
would  be  to  have  a  reservoir  filled  with  an  absorbent,  so 
arranged  that  pulling  a  chain  would  throw  a  sufficient 
amount  into  the  pan,  or  what,  perhaps,  is  better,  is  simply 
to  have  the  janitor  throw  earth  over  the  contents  of  the 
closet  once  every  day;  every  week  or  two,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, the  mass  should  be  removed. 

To  get  people  to  use  dry  closets  is  more  a  question  of 
education  than  of  legislation.  A  town  that  purposes  this 
innovation  should  have  printed  circulars  sent  to  all  house- 
holders, showing  the  advantages  of  the  method.  Then  they 
might  order  the  construction  of  all  privies  after  the  method 
shown  in  Fig.  8,  and  have  a  public  scavenger  clean  them 
every  week.  The  personal  influence  of  the  physician  and 
his  example  in  these  sanitary  matters  will  do  much  to  en- 
lighten the  people  to  a  correct  understanding  of  the  value 
of  sanitary  appliances;  and,  until  the  people  are  educated 
to  this  point,  legislation  will  hardly  do  much  good. 

Slop-waters. — For  the  purpose  of  studying  this  part  of 
our  subject  we  have  to  consider  three  classes  of  country 


WASTE   DISPOSAL.  33 

houses:  First,  those  which  have  water-service  and  use 
water-closets  for  the  disposal  of  excreta  just  as  in  the  city; 
this,  of  course,  necessitates  the  use  of  sewers,  in  which  the 
slop-waters  are  also  disposed  of.  With  these  we  have  noth- 
ing to  do,  so  far  as  the  individual  treatment  of  waste-water 
is  concerned.  Secondly,  those  in  which,  although  having 
water-service,  the  excreta  are  disposed  of  by  some  form  of 
dry  closet;  in  this  class  sewers  are  not  needed,  but  drains 
are  necessary  for  carrying  the  waste-waters  from  the  kitchen 
sink  and  bath.  Thirdly,  those  which  have  no  water-service, 
no  bath,  etc.  This  comprises,  by  far,  the  greater  number  of 
houses  outside  the  cities  and  large  towns.  In  the  latter 
class  all  slops — which  amount  in  a  family  of  four  or  five  to 
about  fifteen  gallons  daily — are  collected  in  buckets  and 
are  generally  emptied  out  the  kitchen  door,  irrespective  of 
where  the  filthy  water  may  flow.  In  such  a  house  a  slop- 
bowl  should  be  put  in  some  convenient  location  either  in 
the  house,  on  the  porch,  balcony,  or  elsewhere,  and  con- 
nected with  a  surface-  or  subsoil-  drain,  both  of  which  have 
points  of  excellence. 

In  the  simplest  form  of  a  drain  the  pipe  from  the  slop- 
bowl  may  lead  to  a  furrow  in  the  vegetable  bed.  A  better 
arrangement  is  that  shown  in  the  accompanying  photo- 
graph, which  was  taken  from  a  small  drain  in  actual  use. 
This  drain  was  made  for  one  of  our  third-class  houses, 
which  have  no  water-service.  A  box  about  a  foot  square, 
lined  with  tin  or  galvanized  iron,  was  placed  in  a  suitable 
location — in  this  instance,  at  the  corner  of  the  bed  to  be 

3 


34  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 

used — to  serve  as  a  receptacle  for  the  slop-waters  which  are 
collected  in  buckets;  from  this  extends  an  old  tin  roof -gutter 
in  any  direction  available.  The  bottom  of  the  box  is  per- 
forated by  twenty  or  thirty  small  holes,  which  serve  to  let 
the  water  into  the  gutter.  A  number  of  small  holes  is 
better  than  a  few  large  ones,  as  the  small  tend  to  keep  solid 
particles  out  of  the  gutter  and  prevent  clogging.  The 
gutter  is  twenty  feet  long;  it  is  nine  inches  above  the  ground 
at  the  upper  end  and  three  inches  at  the  lower,  in  order  to 
give  sufficient  fall  for  its  rapid  emptying, — a  very  necessary 
factor  in  cold  weather.  The  gutter  is  pierced  every  three  or 
four  inches  by  one-fourth  to  one-half  inch  holes,  which  per- 
mit the  liquid  to  flow  on  to  the  soil,  where  it  is  quickly 
absorbed.  The  soil  needs  a  little  raking  now  and  then  to 
favor  absorption  and  evaporation.  •  Along  each  side  of  the 
drain  may  be  planted  a  hedge  of  laurel,  a  row  of  sunflowers, 
or  any  vegetable  which  happens  to  be  desirable,  only  that 
all  debris  from  overhanging  plants  must  be  kept  out  of  the 
gutter.  This  kind  of  a  drain  will  do  very  well  in  houses 
having  water-service,  by  simply  having  the  waste-pipe  from 
the  kitchen  and  bath  discharge  into  the  gutter. 

An  important  point  in  the  use  of  this  drain — as,  in  fact, 
of  any  drain — is  to  keep  solid  and  liquid  refuse  separate, — 
for  a  liquid  containing  many  solid  particles  tends  to  choke 
it  and  to  interfere  with  its  efficiency.  This  separation  is 
readily  accomplished  by  keeping  two  buckets  in  or  near  the 
kitchen, — one  for  solids  and  one  for  liquids.  Over  the  one 
is  placed  a  tin  basin  with  a  perforated  bottom;  the  semi- 


Fig.  9.— One  Form  of  Surface-drain,  Made  of  a_Tin  Roof-gutter. 


WASTE   DISPOSAL.  37 

liquid  waste,  as  it  comes  from  the  kitchen,  is  placed  in  the 
basin,  the  water  drains  through,  and  the  solid  refuse  is 
emptied  into  the  other  bucket.  In  Fig.  9  these  buckets  are 
shown  adjoining  the  drain. 

In  the  winter  a  surface-drain  may  cause  trouble  unless 
some  care  is  taken.  In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  kept 
clean  of  snow,  and,  in  the  next,  the  liquid  must  be  emptied 
into  the  drain  before  it  is  chilled  by  long  exposure  to  the 
cold;  but  if  proper  attention  is  paid  to  these  points  and  to 
the  thorough  emptying  of  the  drain  each  time  that  it  is 
used,  it  will  give  complete  satisfaction,  even  in  the  coldest 
weather. 

Another  way  of  making  a  surface-drain  is  to  construct 
a  gutter  of  perforated  bricks,  the  space  underneath  the 
gutter  being  prepared  by  trenching  and  filling  with  small 
stones,  cinders,  and  the  like,  to  favor  absorption.  Instead 
of  perforated  bricks,  the  ordinary  ones  may  be  used  by  leav- 
ing an  interval  of  half  an  inch  or  so  between  each  brick.  A 
drain  of  this  sort  has  the  advantage  of  being  easily  cleaned 
by  sweeping.  A  number  of  English  physicians  are  said  to 
favor  this  plan  very  much. 

A  very  good  drain,  too,  may  be  made  by  digging  a  trench 
a  foot  or  so  deep  and  a  couple  of  feet  wide,  and  lining  it  with 
small,  round,  cobble-stones,  such  as  are  used  in  some  street 
gutters.  The  space,  of  course,  underneath  the  drain  should 
be  prepared  with  some  absorbent  material,  and  the  waste- 
pipe  should  discharge  a  foot  or  so  above  the  bottom  of  the 
gutter,  so  as  to  permit  no  undue  accumulation  of  ice  in 


38  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIEXK. 

winter;  the  length  of  such  a  gutter  should  be  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  for  a  family  of  four  or  five.  In  this,  as  in  all 
surface-drains,  the  waste-pipes  need  not  be  trapped. 

A  surface-gutter  may  be  protected  from  freezing  by 
covering  with  some  old  boards  and  a  little  earth,  making  it 
practically  a  subsoil-drain,  for  the  time  being. 

In  some  places,  for  various  esthetic  reasons,  and  espe- 
cially in  a  very  cold  climate,  a  surface-drain  may  not  be 
practicable.  Then  we  have  to  resort  to  a  subsoil-drain, 
which  is  made  as  follows: — 

For  this  method  several  hundred  feet  of  land  are  neces- 
sary if  all  the  waste-water  from  the  house  is  disposed  in  one 
place;  but  in  many  instances  different  places  for  different 
drains  will  be  more  suitable.  In  calculating  the  amount 
of  tiles,  we  may  count  one  or  two  feet,  depending  on  the 
soil,  for  each  gallon  to  be  disposed  daily.  A  trench  is  dug 
about  two  feet  deep,  and  in  this  ordinary  two-inch  drain- 
tiles  are  placed;  it  is  best  to  rest  the  tiles  on  a  narrow  piece 
of  board  in  order  to  get  them  on  a  regular  pitch,  which 
should  be  at  least  five  inches  in  twenty  feet.  The  tiles  are 
placed  about  half  an  inch  apart,  and  the  joints  are  covered 
with  broken  stones  or  half -pipes;  then  the  whole  trench  is 
filled  with  stones,  coarse  coal  ashes  or  cinders  completely 
surrounding  the  tiles,  and  finally  covered  with  earth.  The 
delivery-pipe  from  the  house  is  connected  to  the  drain  by 
a  lead  or  iron  pipe,  which  projects  into  the  end  tile.  At  the 
far  end  of  every  line  of  tiling  a  pipe  should  be  inserted,  and 
project  above  the  ground,  so  as  to  allow  the  free  circulation 


Fig.  10.— Surface-drain  Made  of  Ordinary  Bricks,   Showing  De- 
livery-pipe from  Kitchen  Sink  and  Bath. 


WASTE   DISPOSAL. 


41 


of  air  through  the  drain.  Subsoil  drains,  if  made  in  this 
way,  cause  very  little  odor  in  the  room;  but,  as  a  precaution- 
ary measure,  they  should  be  trapped.  In  a  case  in  which 
more  than  a  single  line  of  tile  is  necessary  the  field  may  be 


IX 


( 


Fig.  11.— Method  of  Laying  Tiles  for  Subsoil-drain. 

laid  out  in  a  variety  of  ways;  the  only  point  necessary  is  to 
have  a  sufficient  interval — two  or  three  feet — between  each 
line. 

The  kitchen  sink  and  the  bath  may  be  directly  con- 
nected to  such  a  drain,  either  together  or  separately. 


Fig.  12.— Plan  of  Subsoil  Irrigation-bed. 

For  the  disposal  of  the  bedroom-slops  a  slop-bowl  may 
be  placed  in  the  bath-room,  or  wherever  most  convenient. 

In  some  such  manner  as  this  we  dispose  absolutely  of  all 
the  waste-waters  of  a  house  just  as  well,  perhaps  a  good  deal 
better  and  safer  than  we  could  with  sewers. 


42  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

In  the  first  class  of  houses — those  having  water-service 
and  sewers — there  comes  up  the  question  of  sewage  disposal, 
which  almost  invariably  means  a  cess-pool.  Instead  of  a 
cess-pool,  a  small  shallow  tank  should  be  built  at  some  suit- 
able place,  more  or  less  distant  from  the  house,  and  at  the 
edge  of  some  cultivated  field,  counting  about  one  hundred 
square  feet  of  land  for  each  individual.  There  are  flush- 
tanks  constructed  for  placing  underground;  but  this  is 
hardly  necessary,  unless  the  location  selected  should  happen 
to  be  very  near  the  dwelling.  The  house-sewer  is  connected 
with  the  tank,  and  an  automatic  flush  controls  the  distri- 
bution of  the  sewage,  which  should  be  discharged  inter- 
mittently. A  gutter  made  of  cement,  or  half-pipe,  is  laid 
from  the  tank  along  the  field  to  be  used,  and  every  dozen 
feet  or  so  there  is  a  little  branch  gutter  to  guide  the  sewage 
over  the  land.  In  front  of  each  of  these  branches  there  is 
a  barrier  of  broken  stones,  to  check  the  flow  and  prevent 
washing,  and  beyond  this  the  land  to  be  used,  which  should 
be  planted  with  corn,  as  this  does  not  keep  out  sunlight  as 
much  as  grain,  and  sunlight  is  an  important  factor  in  sew- 
age farming. 

Garbage. — Sweepings,  paper,  rags,  ashes,  and  solid 
refuse  from  the  kitchen  make  another  chapter  in  waste  dis- 
posal. In  cities  this  goes  under  the  head  of  garbage  and  is 
disposed  by  various  methods,  in  many  cases  destruction  by 
fire  giving  the  greatest  satisfaction.  In  cities  under  good 
sanitary  control  ashes  are  kept  separate  from  the  other 
material,  and  we  do  likewise  in  the  country.  Most  of  the 


Fig.  13.— Photograph  Showing  Distributing-gutter  and  Stone  Barrier 
of  an  Irrigation-field.  (New  Jersey  State  Board  of  Health 
Report.) 


WASTE   DISPOSAL.  45 

solid  refuse,  save  the  ashes,  is  probably  best  gotten  rid  of 
by  fire,  and  it  is  generally  recommended  that  the  kitchen 
range  be  the  medium  of  disposal.  To  do  this  properly  there 
must  be  a  good  fire  in  the  range,  and  too  much  waste  must 
not  be  put  in  at  once.  With  proper  care  almost  all  kitchen 
refuse,  orange-  and  potato-  parings,  egg-shells,  bones,  etc., 
can  be  destroyed  without  trouble.  The  only  disadvantage  is 
that  this  sometimes  causes  an  odor.  To  obviate  this  an 
apparatus  has  been  devised  for  attachment  to  the  stove-pipe, 
whereby  the  material  is  first  carbonized  by  the  heat  passing 
up  the  chimney,  before  throwing  it  into  the  fire.  I  have 
no  practical  experience  with  this  arrangement,  but  judge 
from  the  various  reports  that  it  answers  well. 

Kitchen  waste  may  also  be  disposed  of  by  simply  bury- 
ing it  a  few  inches  under  the  soil.  A  hole  several  feet 
square  may  be  dug  in  the  garden-bed  and  the  refuse  emptied 
into  it  and  covered  with  earth  from  time  to  time.  In  this 
way  the  material  is  disposed  of  by  nitrification, — in  a  month 
or  so, — and  the  soil  is  made  the  richer.  When  land  is  avail- 
able,— and  it  does  not  take  much, — this  method  is  the  most 
efficient  means,  perhaps,  for  disposing  of  putrescible  gar- 
bage. Combustible  waste — as  rags,  paper,  sweepings,  bones, 
and  the  like — can  be  disposed  better  by  fire. 

The  following  is  another  method  for  the  destruction  of 
putrescible  waste,  which  may  be  of  value  in  certain  places: 
"Take  a  piece  of  galvanized  wire  netting  three  or  four  feet 
wide,  and  with  it  inclose  a  circular  space  about  three  or  four 
feet  in  diameter,  the  netting  being  fastened  and  supported 


46  OUTLINES   OF   KURAL   HYGIENE. 

by  two  or  three  iron  or  wooden  stakes  driven  into  the 
ground.  Into  this  little  wire  inclosure  throw  all  refuse  from 
the  house  and  garden  which  is  capable  of  rotting,  the  par- 
ings and  waste  of  vegetables  and  other  food,  the  mowings 
and  sweepings  of  the  lawn  and  paths,  weeds,  fallen  leaves, 
etc.  Such  a  heap  as  this,  exposed  on  all  sides  to  the  air, 
is  not  offensive,  and  the  component  parts  of  it  undergo 
humifaction.  When  the  wire  inclosure  will  hold  no  more, 
a  little  earth  must  be  thrown  on  top,  and  the  heap  must  be 
left  for  several  weeks  freely  exposed  to  the  weather.  It  will 
settle  down  and  diminish  in  bulk,,  and  finally  is  entirely  con- 
verted into  fine  garden-mold  suitable  for  potting  or  for 
enriching  the  soil.  The  final  act  in  the  management  of  this 
refuse  heap  is  to  sift  it  and  consign  the  residue  to  the  garden 
bonfire.  When  one  netting  inclosure  is  filled,  a  second 
must  be  formed;  so  that  in  connection  with  a  house  there 
must  always  be  two  heaps, — one  forming  and  the  other 
ripening.  Such  heaps,  if  freely  exposed  on  all  sides,  are  not, 
it  the  smallest  degree,  offensive." 

The  other  part  of  the  garbage — the  ashes,  broken  crock- 
ery, tin  cans,  etc. — should  be  kept  separate  and  used  for 
filling.  If  an  ash-closet  is  used  almost  all  the  ashes  will  be 
disposed  in  this  way. 

The  waste,  then,  of  an  ideal  country  house  would  be 
disposed  somewhat  as  follows:  The  material  from  the  dry 
c]oset — which  is  the  only  method  of  excrefal  disposal  rec- 
ommended when  there  is  no  water-service — is  to  be  used 
ae  fertilizer  by  burying  a  few  inches  in  cultivated  soil  either 


WASTE    DISPOSAL.  47 

on  the  garden-bed  or  on  a  neighboring  farm.  The  waste- 
water  from  the  kitchen  sink  and  the  bath  run  into  lines  of 
surface-  or  subsoil-  drains.  The  garbage — that  is,  the  putres- 
cible  part  which  comes  from  the  kitchen — is  burned  in  the 
range  or  buried  in  a  pit  in  the  garden-bed.  The  combust- 
ible part — rags  and  paper — is  burned.  The  non-combust- 
ible part — ashes,  tin  cans,  oyster-shells,  etc. — is  put  into 
bags  kept  for  the  purpose,  and  at  intervals  is  taken  away 
and  used  for  filling.  In  houses  where  there  is  water-service 
and  water-closets  excreta  and  slop-waters  are  disposed  to- 
gether in  the  form  of  sewage,  and  for  this  the  only  means 
of  disposal  is  irrigation.  The  cess-pool  should  not  be 
thought  of. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE  SOIL. 

THE  study  of  the  soil  and  rocks  used  to  belong  strictly 
to  the  geologist,  but  lately  the  biologist  and  the  sanitarian 
have  taken  up  the  work,  and  we  are  finding  that  there  are 
factors  in  the  soil  which  have  much  bearing  on  health.  For 
example,  there  is  the  surface-soil,  with  its  peculiar  filth- 
destroying  properties;  ground-moisture  and  ground-water 
present  problems  to  be  solved;  ground-air,  too,  is  a  question 
of  vast  importance. 

The  surface-soil  is  composed  of  the  debris  of  the  subsoil 
mixed  with  more  or  less  humus;  this  humus  is  the  black 
sdil,  or  mold,  which  is  produced  by  the  decomposition  of 
the  organic  matter  of  plants  and  animals;  surface-soil, 
though  to  a  superficial  observer  apparently  dead,  is  filled 
with  all  varieties  of  lowly  life, — worms,  bacteria,  bugs,  and 
beetles,  which  work  out  the  problem  of  their  existence  vastly 
better  than  some  forms  of  higher  life. 

It  is  only  in  the  upper  few  feet  of  the  soil  that  is  carried 
on  all  the  various  processes  for  the  feeding  and  clothing  of 
the  race, — a  vast  laboratory,  as  it  were,  of  which  we  know 
very  little. 

As  far  as  sanitarians  are  concerned,  the  most  important 
part  played  by  this  "living  earth,"  as  it  has  been  called,  is 
its  ability  to  destroy  waste-material  and  to  break  up  such 
(48) 


THE    SOIL.  49 

matter  into  its  primary  elements,  rendering  them  harmless, 
and  fit  to  be  taken  up  by  growing  plant-life. 

The  process  of  decay  and  disorganization  was  noted  long 
ago,  but  we  never  knew  exactly  what  it  meant  until  very 
recently.  Now  we  call  it  nitrification,  and  the  world  has  to 
thank  Schloessing,  Miintz,  Warrington,  and  Winogradski 
for  the  work  that  they  have  done;  but  much  yet  remains 
unknown,  for  not  one  of  these  nitrifying  organisms  has  been 
isolated,  unless  we  except  the  bacillococcus  of  Frankland; 
not  one  has  been  cultivated.  These  bacteria,  only  known, 
as  yet,  by  their  effects,  are  the  great  scavengers  of  the  world, 
for  they  are  present  in  all  natural  and  cultivated  soils. 

The  products  of  nitrification  are  ammonia,  nitrites, 
and  nitrates,  and  the  last  is  plant-food.  It  is  not  just  yet 
settled  whether  nitration — the  formation  of  nitrites  into 
nitrates — is  chemical  or  biological,  but  the  evidence  seems 
to  point  to  the  former,  and  that  it  is  brought  about  by  the 
action  of  the  carbon  dioxide  and  the  oxygen  of  the  ground- 
air.  Sewage-farms,  filter-beds,  earth-closets,  and  all  like 
destroyers  of  filth  depend,  for  their  efficiency,  on  nitrifica- 
tion. When  we  add  earth  to  the  dry  closet  we  simply  add 
nitrifying  bacteria  plus  an  absorbent.  Could  we  isolate  these 
bacteria  it  might  be  better  to  add  them  separately,  but  we 
have  not  progressed  so  far;  so  we  add  the  bacteria  in  their 
natural  habitat. 

The  nitrifying  properties  of  different  soils  depend  on 
various  circumstances,  such  as  the  nature  of  the  soil,  aera- 
tion, moisture,  and  heat,  the  thermal  life-point  varying 


50  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 

with  different  organisms.  Excessive  heat  destroys  the  nitri- 
fying bacteria;  so  that  earth  dried  in  an  oven  is  absolutely 
useless — save  as  an  absorbent — for  the  earth-closet. 

Germicides  kill  them;  so  that  adding  carbolic  acid  to  a 
compost-heap  or  a  privy  is  useles  as  far  as  the  ultimate  dis- 
posal is  concerned,  for,  while  the  acid  might  kill  some  path- 
ogenic germs  and  destroy  noxious  odors  for  the  time  being, 
it  also  impedes  the  nitrifying  germs. 

Ground-moisture. — If  one  digs  into  the  earth  he  finds 
tli at  the  upper  layers  are  moist,  containing  both  air  and 
water.  This  dampness  is  derived  from  percolating  waters 
from  above  and  from  the  ground-water  below,  which  tends 
to  rise  by  capillary  action  and  hydrostatic  pressure.  Ground- 
moisture  is  directly  proportional  to  the  absorptive  power  of 
the  soil,  and  inversely  as  its  permeability,  both  of  which 
depend  on  the  character  of  the  soil  and  varies  accordingly; 
for  example,  humus  will  retain  about  50  per  cent,  of  water; 
slate,  4  to  10  per  cent.;  sandstone,  3  to  8  per  cent.;  lime- 
stone, only  2  to  3  per  cent.  It  is  evident  that  by  increasing 
the  permeability  of  the  soil  we  can  diminish  its  dampness; 
to  do  this  we  fill  trenches  with  some  loose  rock  or  debris  of 
any  kind,  or  we  may  lay  a  course  of  drain-tiles.  Water  pre- 
colating  through  the  soil  will  collect  in  these  trenches  or 
tiles,  flow  off  rapidly,  and  the  soil  will  become  drier. 

This  undue  dampness  of  the  soil  is,  no  doubt,  a  factor 
in  certain  diseases.  The  prevalence  of  rheumatic  com- 
plaints in  rural  districts,  where  the  houses  are  almost  uni- 
versally damp,  is  a  well-known  fact,  strikingly  different 


THE    SOIL.  51 

from  its  prevalence  in  a  well-drained  city.  Of  course,  there 
are  other  factors  at  work;  but  soil-dampness  is  certainly  one 
not  to  be  ignored. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  there  is  a  relationship  between 
dampness  and  phthisis.  According  to  some  English  statis- 
tics, there  seems  to  have  been  a  great  lowering  of  phthisical 
mortality  following  subsoil-drainage  in  certain  localities. 
We  now  know  that  phthisis  is  a  specific  disease;  but  it 
appears  likely  that  continual  exposure  to  dampness  so  lowers 
vitality  that  the  bacilli  find  a  better  breeding-ground  than 
in  the  normal  condition. 

One  other  disease — namely,  malaria — has  much  depend- 
ence apparently  on  excessive  ground-moisture;  this,  with 
heat  and  organic  matter,  seems  to  be  a  primal  factor  in  the 
breeding  of  the  plasmodium.  It  has  been  noted  that  in- 
creased dryness  of  the  soil,  which  is  brought  about  by  sur- 
face- and  subsoil-  drainage,  is  a  potent  factor  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  malaria.  Eucalyptus,  sunflowers,  and  other  plants 
which  absorb  much  moisture  are  great  aids  to  drainage. 
Sunflowers,  especially,  as  they  will  grow  almost  anywhere, 
are  to  be  recommended  for  wet  places  about  country  homes. 

Ground-water,  as  explained  before,  is  that  underground 
sheet  of  water  which  completely  fills  all  the  interstices  of 
the  soil  at  a  certain  depth,  extending  from  several  feet  to 
hundreds  of  feet  below  the  surface;  its  height  is  readily 
told  by  the  height  of  water  in  the  wells  of  the  district.  This 
ground-water  does  not  flow  in  rivers,  as  is  generally  sup- 
posed, but  extends  underneath  the  soil  in  one  broad, 


52  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 

tinuous  sheet;  it  is  for  this  reason  that  wells  sunk  almost 
anywhere  yield  water. 

The  origin  of  the  ground-water  is,  of  course,  the  rain 
sinking  through  a  porous  soil;  its  level  varies  from  time  to 
time  and  does  not  extend  in  a  horizontal  line,  but  in  an 
irregular  one,  the  fluctuations  depending  on  the  geological 
character  of  the  rock  and  the  precipitation  and  height  of 
adjoining  water-courses.  At  Munich,  for  example,  there  is 
a  difference  of  ten  feet  between  the  highest  and  lowest 


Fig.   14. — Showing  Ground-water  Level   in   an   Elevated   Region 
Between  Two  Streams.     (Original.) 

levels.  In  summers  characterized  by  long  droughts  the 
water-courses  become  very  low,  and  consequently  the 
ground- water  sinks  below  its  usual  place;  as  a  result,  many 
wells  get  "dry."  The  proper  time  to  dig  a  well,  if  such 
things  must  exist,  is  during  a  dry  summer,  when  the  ground- 
water  is  at  its  lowest  point. 

The  sheet  of  ground-water  is  also  in  continual  motion 
toward  the  nearest  water-courses;  five  to  ten  feet  per  day 
gives  some  idea  of  its  velocity,  which  changes  with  the 
porosity  of  the  bed.  In  some  regions  of  limestone,  slate, 


THE    SOIL. 


53 


and  sandstone  there  are  large  underground  cavities  and  fis- 
sures, through  which  water-movement  is  greatly  facilitated. 
Much  has  been  said  about  the  relation  of  the  ground- 
water  to  diseases,  and  especially  its  connection  with  typhoid 
fever.  The  theory  of  Professor  Pettenkofer,  that  low 


/ 


Fig.  15.     (From  Miers  and  Crosskey.) 


ground-water  and  epidemics  of  typhoid  fever  occur  simul- 
taneously, cannot  be  verified  for  all  places.  The  following 
sketch  of  these  relations  for  the  city  of  Zurich  in  1872 
shows  the  exact  opposite.  Of  course,  if  a  city  uses  wells  or  a 
polluted  drinking-water  of  any  kind,  Pettenkofer's  theory 
rests  on  a  logical  basis,  for  the  increase  of  drainage  and 


54  OUTLINES    OF    RURAL   HYGIENE. 

consequent  wider  area  of  infection  brought  about  by  low 
ground-water  will  readily  explain  the  spread  of  the  disease. 

The  truth  of  the  ground-water  question  seems  to  be  that 
unless  its  level  is  very  near  the  surface  it  has  little  to  do 
with  health  save  in  the  pollution  of  water-supplies.  I  recall 
a  town  where  the  ground-water  is  generally  twenty-five  to 
fifty  feet  below  the  surface,  yet  almost  every  house  in  that 
town  is  damp  and  unhealthy,  because  faulty  construction 
has  permitted  ground-air  and  ground-moisture  to  permeate 
the  foundations.  Much  has  been  said  about  lowering  the 
ground-water  by  drainage;  but  ordinarily  it  is  a  difficult 
tiling  to  do  this.  When  people  speak  of  lowering  the 
ground-water  by  building  sewers  and  drains,  they  generally 
mean  that  they  lessen  ground-moisture  and  dampness. 

Ground-air. — More  important  than  ground-water  is  the 
air  wrhich  occupies  the  upper  layers  of  the  soil  and  fills  all 
the  interstices  as  far  down,  at  least,  as  the  surface  of  the 
ground-water.  The  composition  of  this  air  and  its  move- 
ments are  the  two  factors  which  interest  sanitarians.  De- 
composition and  putrefaction  are  constantly  going  on  in 
the  soil,  and  the  gases  arising  from  these  processes  diffuse 
through  the  soil.  The  carbon  unites  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  carbon  dioxide  is  formed,  which  is 
always  greater  in  the  ground-air  than  in  the  atmosphere; 
for  example,  at  Dresden,  where  experiments  were  made,  at 
six  feet  beneath  the  surface  there  was  found  to  be  2.99  per 
cent.,  and  at  eighteen  feet  7.96  per  cent.,  of  carbon  dioxide. 
Oxygen,  on  the  other  hand,  is  decreased,  and  falls  as  low  as 


THE    SOIL.  55 

10  per  cent,  in  some  soils.  Nitrogen  remains  at  about  the 
same  proportion  as  in  the  atmosphere. 

These  gases,  together  with  certain  amounts  of  ammonia, 
hydrogen,  ammonium  sulphide,  and  marsh-gas,  make  up  the 
air  in  the  soil.  Thus,  differing  in  composition  from  the 
atmosphere,  it  is  not  suitable  for  breathing  purposes,  and  is 
too  damp.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  not  certain  that  it 
does  not,  at  times,  contain  the  spores  of  certain  disease- 
germs. 

The  second  disturbing  factor  of  the  ground-air — namely, 
its  movement — is  of  considerable  sanitary  importance.  It 
has  been  proved  that  winds  blowing  against  the  surface  set 
this  underground-air  in  motion;  likewise,  too,  any  change 
in  the  ground-water  level  will  occasion  fluctuations  in  the 
air  above.  Also  during  a  heavy  rain  the  surface-waters 
flowing  downward  press  upon  the  ground-air  and  compress 
it;  underneath  a  dwelling,  if  the  cellar  is  not  properly  con- 
creted, there  is  an  area  of  diminished  pressure,  and  conse- 
quently the  ground-air  pours  into  the  cellar  and  thence 
into  the  house.  In  winter,  during  heavy  frosts,  when  the 
frozen  ground  is  more  or  less  impervious,  the  warm,  un- 
frozen part  underneath  a  house  facilitates  the  ascent  of  the 
ground-air;  hence  the  reason  for  urging  more  careful  build- 
ing of  cellars  and  foundations  than  at  present. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HABITATIONS. 

Dwellings. — The  first  thing  in  the  building  of  a  house, 
not  only  to  the  architect,  but  also  to  the  sanitarian,  is  the 
foundation.  That  very  little  attention  is  paid  to  this  will 
bo  apparent  to  anyone  who  will  watch  the  construction  of  a 
foundation,  especially  in  the  rural  districts.  Whether  the 
land  to  be  used  is  wet  or  dry,  clay  or  gravel,  sandstone,  slate, 
or  granite,  the  method  is  nearly  always  the  same, — simply 
a  hole  in  the  ground,  walled  with  stone,  upon  which  is  to 
rest  the  superstructure. 

The  foundation  is  intended  to  serve,  not  only  as  a  firm 
support  for  the  building,  bu  t  also  as  a  barrier  to  the  moist- 
ure and  the  damp,  unwholesome  air  of  the  soil. 

After  a  building  site  is  selected  it  is  necessary  to  see 
that  it  is  thoroughly  drained  by  surface-  and  subsoil-  drains; 
the  latter  consist  of  tiles  or  ditches  partially  filled  with 
broken  stones,  gravel,  or  sand,  and  is  graded,  if  possible,  to 
a  suitable  outlet.  Colonel  Waring,  the  eminent  sanitary  en- 
gineer, has  so  well  described  the  details  of  this  work  that 
I  take  the  liberty  to  quote  him  without  reserve:  "In  the 
case  of  a  country  house,  or  of  a  town  house  standing  in  the 
centre  of  a  considerable  area,  it  is  often  the  most  efficient 
means  for  securing  satisfactory  drainage  to  apply  a  very 
thorough  system  of  underdraining  to  the  whole  area  about 
(56) 


HABITATIONS. 


it  and  for  some  distance  away,  by  laying  different  lines  of 
drains,  not  necessarily  under  the  house  at  all,  but  so  as  to 
surround  it  on  all  sides  from  which  water  flows  toward  it, 
and  in  all  cases  at  a  depth  of  several  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  cellar-bottom.  In  the  construction  of  these  drains  two 
courses  may  be  pursued  with,  perhaps,  an  equally  good 
result.  One  is,  after  having  excavated  the  ditch  and  cleared 


ill  U  if 


Fig.  16.— Gravel  Drain  Under  Cellar-floor.    (From  "  The  Principles 
and  Practice  of  House-drainage,"  Century  Magazine.) 

its  bottom  of  all  loose  dirt,  to  fill  in  to  a  depth  of  a  foot 
with  sand  or  gravel, — and  even  fine  sand  will  answer  the 
purpose.  The  other  is  to  use  agricultural  drain-tiles, — pref- 
erably of  the  smallest  size;  say,  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in 
diameter, — laid  at  the  bottom  of  a  well-graded  trench  and 
continued  to  point  of  outlet.  When  tiles  are  used,  the 
joints  should  be  wrapped  twice  around  with  strips  of  muslin 
drawn  tight.  This  makes  a  perfect  collar,  holding  the  tiles 


58  OUTLINES    OF    RUKAL    HYGIENE. 

in  line  and  affording  much  the  best  protection  that  has  yet 
been  devised  against  the  ingress  of  sand  or  silt,  which  usu- 
ally finds  its  entrance  at  the  lower  part  of  the  joint,  flowing 
in  with  the  water  which  rises  with  the  ground-water  level, 
and  flows  off  over  the  floor  of  the  tile.  A  tile  an  inch  and 
a  quarter  in  diameter  will  carry  more  water  than  can  usu- 
ally be  collected  for  a  constant  flow  from  the  subsoil  of  half 
an  acre  of  ground.  A  body  of  sand  or  gravel  ten  or  twelve 
inches  wide  and  of  equal  depth  cannot  be  so  compacted — 
provided  clay  and  loam  be  kept  out  of  it — that  it  will  not 
afford  a  free  outlet  for  all  the  water  that  can  reach  it,  under 
these  circumstances,  from  the  soil  of  an  ordinary  lot.  As 
a  rule,  the  tile  will  be  found  to  be  much  cheaper  than  the 
other  material.  It  is  better  always  that  the  depth  of  the 
drain  should  not  be  less  than  three  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  foot  of  the  foundation.  The  more  rapid  the  descent 
the  better,  but  even  two  inches  in  a  hundred  feet,  with 
perfect  grading,  will  remove  a  very  large  flow." 

The  ground-air,  which  nobody  wants  to  have  in  his 
house,  is  also  kept  out  by  proper  attention  to  the  founda- 
tion; and  I  again  quote  from  Colonel  Waring  a  very  effective 
method  of  remedying  this  defect,  which  is  universal  in  most 
country  houses  and  in  a  good  many  of  the  older  city  houses: 
"One  of  the  safest  materials  for  a  cellar-bottom  and  for 
the  external  packing  of  foundation  walls  is  a  clean,  smooth, 
compact  clay,  one  T^which  may  be  beaten  into  a  close  mass, 
and  which  has  a  sufficient  affinity  for  moisture  always  to 
maintain  its  retentive  condition,  for,  when  used  in  the  damp 


HABITATIONS.  59 

atmosphere  of  a  cellar  or  about  a  foundation,  it  seems  to 
constitute  a  good  barrier  to  the  passage  of  impure  air.  In 
the  cellar  it  may,  of  course,  be  covered  with  concrete  for 
cleanliness  and  good  appearance;  but  six  inches  of  clay, 
well  rammed  while  wet,  will  impede  the  movement  of  air 
to  a  degree  with  which  ordinary  cellar  concrete  can  furnish 
no  parallel.  When  clay  is  not  available,  a  good  smearing  of 
asphalt  over  the  outside  of  the  foundation-wall,  and  a  thick 
layer  of  asphalt  between  two  thicknesses  of  concrete  for  the 
cellar-bottom,  will  afford  a  complete,  though  more  costly 
protection.  Asphalt  used  in  substantially  the  same  way, 
especially  if  in  connection  with  a  solid  course  of  slate  or 
North  River  blue-stone,  in  the  foundation  above  the  ground- 
level,  will  prevent  the  soaking  up,  into  the  structure,  of  the 
moisture  of  a  heavy  soil." 

Another  way  is  to  cover  the  cellar-floor  with  brick,  on 
edge,  and  then  run  melted  pitch  over  this,  and  finally  cover 
with  a  layer  of  concrete  or  cement. 

The  ventilation  and  heating  of  country  houses  are  points 
worth  considering,  inasmuch  as  the  majority  of  these  houses 
are  heated  by  stoves  and,  as  a  result  of  defective  arrange- 
ment, the  floors  are  always  cold.  In  these  stove-heated  rooms 
the  floor  is  from  six  to  eight  degrees  colder  than  it  is  four 
or  five  feet  above  the  floor.  This  means  that  one's  feet  are 
just  that  many  degrees  colder  than  the  head  and  shoulders. 

To  obviate  this  difficulty  each  room  should  be  built  so 
that  it  has  an  open  grate  or  its  equivalent, — simply  an  air- 
shaft  connected  with  the  chimney  and  opening  into  the 


60  OUTLINES   OF   RURAL   HYGIENE. 

room  at  the  floor-level;  by  this  means  good  ventilation  can  al- 
ways be  obtained.  Yentilating-stoves,  although  of  value  in 
school-houses,  are  not  necessary  in  private  houses;  with  an 
open  grate,  or  an  air-shaft,  as  indicated,  a  room  may  be  very 
well  heated  with  an  ordinary  stove. 

In  Fig.  17  is  shown  the  effect  of  heating  a  room  with  a 
stove  with  and  without  a  foul-air  shaft.  In  the  upper  room 
the  heated  air  rises  and  fills  the  upper  parts  of  the  room, 
while  the  floor  remains  cold;  if  the  heating  is  brought  to 
such  a  point  that  the  lower  part  does  become  warm,  the 
upper  part  is  too  hot,  and,  if  a  window  is  opened,  the  heated 
air  rushes  out  without  warming  the  room,  and  leaves  a  lot 
of  foul  air  to  be  breathed.  If  now,  as  in  the  lower  room, 
there  is  an  open  grate,  or  an  air-shaft  in  the  chimney,  the 
heated  air  creates  a  partial  vacuum,  and  a  draft,  conse- 
quently, is  constantly  going  up  the  chimney;  in  the  room 
this,  of  course,  creates  movement  toward  the  opening,  and, 
as  a  result,  the  foul  air  is  "sucked  up"  the  chimney  and 
the  upper,  heated  air  is  more  diffused  about  the  room,  mak- 
ing the  temperature  more  uniform;  in  these  cases  fresh  air 
enters  at  the  windows  and  doors.  If  the  house  is  heated  by 
hot  air,  steam,  or  hot  water  by  direct  or  direct-indirect 
method  (if  there  is  no  open  grate),  there  should  be  an  ex- 
traction shaft  at  the  lowest  part  of  the  room  near  the  source 
of  entrance  of  the  heat,  as  will  be  apparent  from  a  study  of 
the  diagrams  in  Fig.  19. 

School-hygiene. — School -build  ings  in  the  country  are 
excessively  defective  in  sanitary  arrangements;  there  are 


Fig.  17.— Showing  Effect  of  Heating  a  Room  With  and  Without 
Air-shaft.     (Original.) 


62  OUTLINES  OF  RURAL  HYGIENE. 

very  few  model  schools,  even  in  the  great  cities.  In  the  first 
place,  the  site  for  a  school-house,  as  for  any  other  human 
habitation,  should  be  located  on  a  dry,  well-drained  soil, 
and  this  is  generally  available  in  rural  districts.  There 
should  be  ample  play-ground  around  the  building,  and  if 
trees  are  planted  they  should  not  be  placed  so  close  as  to 
interfere  with  the  lighting  of  the  room,  and  the  building 
should  be  so  planned  that  the  windows  face  north  and  south, 
for  by  this  means  we  get  the  best  light. 

In  the  construction  of  the  building  we  should  be  guided 
by  the  same  sanitary  rules  laid  down  for  dwellings,  and  pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  sufficient  air-  and  floor-  space. 
Each  pupil  should  have  about  300  cubic  feet  of  air-space 
with  about  20  feet  of  floor-space;  by  changing  the  air  in  the 
room — say  six  times  an  hour — we  would  give  each  indi- 
vidual 1800  cubic  feet  of  air  per  hour,  which  is  surely  not 
too  much.  In  New  York  City  each  pupil  gets  from  80  to 
100  cubic  feet  of  air-space,  but  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
this  is  by  far  too  little. 

The  floor  should  be  of  polished,  hard  wood,  with  no 
rugs  nor  carpets.  The  walls  and  ceiling  should  be  painted 
some  green  tint,  as  this  is  probably  the  easiest  for  the  eyes; 
above  all,  they  should  not  be  white. 

Each  room  should  not  be  more  than  40  feet  long,  for 
beyond  this  the  distance  to  the  blackboard  becomes  too 
great.  The  windows  should  occupy  one-fourth  the  floor- 
space,  should  reach  to  the  ceiling,  and  should  not  be  covered 
with  shades;  inside  blinds  are  much  better, 


HABITATIONS.  63 

Water  should  be  plentifully  supplied,  but  the  usual 
method  of  having  an  open  bucket  and  a  common  cup  for  all 
should  be  abolished.  The  water  should  be  kept  in  a  covered 
bucket  or  a  pitcher,  and  each  pupil  should  have  a  small  tin 
cup  attached  to  his  or  her  desk. 

Among  other  faults  to  be  corrected  are  the  seats,  which 
are  often  too  high,  and  the  crowding  of  too  many  children 
in  one  room,  thirty  pupils  being  considered  enough  for  one 
teacher  and  for  one  room. 

The  ventilation  and  heating  of  country  schools  are  yet 
done  in  the  crudest  possible  manner.  A  stove  furnishes  the 
heat,  and  ventilation,  such  as  it  is,  is  obtained  through  open 
doors  and  windows.  In  winter,  when  we  need  heat  for  the 
school-room,  ventilation  and  heat  may  be  obtained  at  the 
same  time  by  means  of  a  ventilating-stove.  This  consists  of 
an  ordinary  stove  inclosed  by  a  cylinder  of  tin  or  galvanized 
iron.  The  front  part  is  movable  on  hinges,  so  as  to  allow 
opening  in  order  to  get  at  the  stove  proper.  Underneath 
the  stove  a  hole  is  cut  into  the  floor, — at  least  two  feet 
square,  if  possible, — and  this  should  be  continued  to  the 
outside  air  by  a  shaft  made  of  wood  or  tin. 

For  the  removal  of  foul  air  an  opening  should  be  made 
into  the  chimney  at  the  lowest  part  of  the  room,  and  not 
farther  removed  than  is  actually  necessary  from  the  centre 
of  heat,  as  indicated  in  the  heating  of  dwellings.  An  open- 
ing at  the  top  of  the  room — which  is  the  place  usually  rec- 
ommended for  a  foul-air  shaft — only  permits  the  escape  of 
heated  air  before  it  has  been  properly  diffused,  and  conse- 


64 


OUTLINES    OF    RURAL    HYGIENE. 


quently  does  little  good;  if  each  room  had  an  open  grate — 
which  it  ought  to  have — we  would  need  nothing  more. 


Fig.  18.— Showing  Arrangements  of  Air-shafts  for  Ventilating-stove. 


Heating  a  room  by  means  of  a  stove  is  not  an  ideal  way,  but 
it  is  the  most  available  for  country  schools. 

The  privy  attachment  of  these  schools  is  even  more 


HABITATIONS.  65 

primitive  than  the  heating  and  ventilation;  it  is  generally 
situated  in  the  most  public  place  in  the  yard,  without  any 
covered  passage-way  or  any  other  means  to  obviate  exposure; 
this  is  simply  abominable.  In  place  of  the  old-fashioned 
privy  the  dry-earth  system  should  be  used  (such  as  is  men- 
tioned on  page  30),  and  should  be  connected  with  the  build- 
ing by  a  covered  path;  if  there  is  someone  to  look  after  this 
dry  closet^  it  will  yield  most  excellent  results.  The  material 
can  be  disposed  to  the  neighboring  farmer  for  fertilizer. 

Emergency  Hospitals. — Although  in  the  larger  towns 
and  cities  a  permanent  isolation  hospital  is  needed,  this  is 
hardly  necessary  in  the  small  towns  and  villages,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  when  such  a  thing  becomes  necessary  we 
can  use  an  ordinary  tent,  which  makes  the  best  kind  of  an 
emergency  hospital, — and  tents  are  always  procurable.  If 
the  tent  has  a  board  floor  and  arrangements  made  for  a, 
stove,  it  may  be  made  very  comfortable  in  any  kind  of 
weather. 

The  plot  selected  for  the  erection  of  a  hospital  tent 
should  be  dry  and  sheltered  as  much  as  possible,  and  the 
free  space  surrounding  the  tent  should  be  as  large  as  is  con- 
veniently obtainable,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  fresh  air, 
but  on  account  of  the  danger  of  contagion.  Contagious  dis- 
eases, when  isolated,  do  not  appear  to  spread  the  disease, 
save  in  the  case  of  small-pox,  and,  as  this  is  the  one  disease 
which  most  likely  would  require  isolation  in  the  inland  dis- 
tricts, the  proximity  of  human  habitations  is  an  important 
question. 


B^ 


*•/"          ' 


-  A 


Z±A 


Fig.  19.— Diagram  Showing  Correct  and  Faulty  Methods  of  Heat- 
ing and  Ventilation.  (From  Reports  of  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education.) 


A.  Inlet  for  heated  air. 
B  Outlet  for  foul  air. 


0,  D,  E,  F,  G,  Faulty. 
H,  Correct. 


HABITATIONS.  67 

Dr.  Powers,  of  the  Local  Government  Board  (England), 
during  an  investigation  of  this  subject  found  that,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  London  small-pox  hospitals,  the  num- 
ber of  cases  in  the  surrounding  districts  increased  almost 
in  a  direct  ratio  to  the  nearness  of  the  hospital;  this  in- 
crease, too,  was  independent  of  the  lines  of  human  inter- 
course. 

For  diseases  like  typhus  fever,  when  fresh  air  is  most 
necessary,  nothing  is  comparable  to  tents  for  isolation.  I 
happened  to  be  assistant  on  Blackwell's  Island  during  the 
last  epidemic  of  that  disease,  and,  although  it  was  in  winter, 
tents  were  used  for  all  cases,  and  they  did  remarkably  well. 


CHAPTEK  V. 

DISPOSAL  OF  THE  DEAD. 

WHILE  in  many  places  cremation  of  the  dead  presents 
some  advantages,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  in  most 
suburban  districts,  at  least,  earth-burial,  if  properly  per- 
formed, meets  all  sanitary  requirements  of  the  present,  and 
is  ample  proof  against  the  transmission  of  disease. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  recognized  that  the  main 
point  in  earth-burial  is  not  the  preservation  of  the  body,  but 
its  resolution,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  into  its  primitive  ele- 
ments, with  the  minimum  amount  of  discomfort  and  danger 
to  the  living. 

The  prevalent  custom  of  constructing  a  cemented  brick 
vault  for  the  coffin  is  not  desirable,  for  it  delays  decomposi- 
tion; the  sooner  putrefaction  is  over,  the  sooner  is  the 
danger  past. 

It  has  been  found  that  in  proper  earth-burial  the  body  is 
destroyed  rather  rapidly  by  the  action  of  numerous  insects, 
worms,  and  nitrifying  bacteria,  From  experiments  of  Dr. 
Poore  we  find  that  it  takes  something  like  two  years  for  the 
earth  to  dispose  of  the  carcass  of  a  cow  or  a  horse;  of  course, 
it  should  take  no  longer  for  a  human  cadaver,  unless  it  is 
piotected  by  the  embalmer's  art  or  by  a  vault. 

"We  hear  a  good  deal  about  the  dangers  of  graveyards; 
but  all  of  these  may  be  avoided  by  ordinary  care.  One  of 
(68) 


DISPOSAL    OF   THE    DEAD.  69 

the  dangers  seems  to  come  from  embalming;  for  example,, 
the  water  of  a  certain  creek  which  flows  through  Forrest 
Lawn  Cemetery  in  Buffalo  was  found,  some  time  since,  to  be 
impregnated  with  considerable  quantities  of  arsenic  of  the 
kind  used  by  the  embalmer,  and  had  it  not  been  discovered 
might  have  been  a  factor  in  the  death-rate. 

Another  danger  which  is  supposed  to  come  from  grave- 
yards is  that  of  the  transmission  of  contagious  diseases.  Sir 
Spencer  Wells  quotes  the  following,,  which  is  worth  repeat- 
ing: "Some  people  living  in  a  mountain  country  and  hav- 
ing very  little  communication  with  each  other  were  in  the 
habit  of  quenching  their  thirst  at  a  neighboring  well  after 
the  Sunday  attendance  at  the  district  church.  A  young 
man  died  of  diphtheria  and  was  buried  in  the  yard.  The 
drinking  from  the  well  continued,  and  in  a  short  time 
twenty  of  those  peasants  were  carried  off  by  the  same 
disease.  If  asked  how  we  are  to  account  for  this  accident, 
but  on  the  presumption  that  the  germs  of  this  disease  found 
their  way  into  the  waters  of  the  well,  various  explanations 
—such  as  milk  outbreak  or  personal  communication — may 
bo  imagined;  but  none  so  exactly  corresponds  with  the  cir- 
cumstances as  leakage  from  the  corpse."  That  such  danger 
as  the  above  may  exist,  and  be  scientifically  possible,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  investigations  of  Dr.  Lossener, 
who  has  shown  that  certain  pathogenic  germs  exist  for  some 
time  in  buried  cadavers,  even  when  decomposition  is  not 
delayed.  His  results  are  as  follow: — 

Typhoid  germs  lived  96  days. 


70  OUTLINES    OF   RURAL    HYGIENE. 

Cholera  germs  lived  28  days. 

Tubercular  germs  lived  95  days. 

Tetanus  germs  lived  234  to  361  days. 

Anthrax  germs  lived  365  days. 

These  experiments  of  Lossener  were  carried  on  in  nitri- 
fying soils;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  a  good  many 
graveyards  are  placed  on  the  cheap  non-nitrifying  clays, 
because  they  are  cheap  and  not  good  for  agriculture.  Such 
soils  should  not  be  selected  for  this  purpose,  for  we  are  not 
certain  but  that  pathogenic  germs  may  live  much  longer  in 
those  cases  in  which  decomposition  is  delayed;  and  in  these 
soils  it  is  delayed  very  much,  for  nitrifying  germs  are  absent. 
It  is  recorded  that  in  cutting  through  St.  Andrew's  church- 
yard, Hoborn  (England),  which  is  situated  on  a  heavy  clay, 
some  of  the  bodies  which  had  been  buried  even  a  hundred 
years  showed  very  little  decomposition. 

To  have  earth-burial  effective  then 

1.  There  should  be  no  embalming,  save  for  transporta- 
tion. 

2.  The  body  should  not  be  placed,  if  avoidable,  in  a 
sealed  coffin  or  vault. 

3.  Burial  should  not  be  deep. 

4.  The  cemetery  should  not  be  placed  on  a  non-nitrify- 
ing soil. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  NOEMAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CHLOKINE.1 

BY  PROF.  HERBERT  E.  SMITH. 

WATER,  as  it  is  found  in  springs,  streams,  lakes,  etc., 
always  contains  chlorine  in  solution,  chiefly,  if  not  wholly, 
in  the  form  of  common  salt.  Sometimes  there  is  much, 
sometimes  little,  but  always  some,  (even  in  waters  which  are 
entirely  free  from  the  possibility  of  contamination  by  man^ 
Hence  we  must  recognize  that  there  are  natural  sources  from 
which  water  does  derive  chlorine.  But  there  are  also  arti- 
ficial sources,  for  the  waste-fluids  of  certain  manufacturing 
processes,  sewage,  and  even  the  drainage  from  inhabited 
areas,  contain  considerable  quantities  of  chlorine.  The  ad- 
ditions of  such  liquids  to  a  stream  or  pond  must  add  to  the 
total  amount  of  its  chlorine. 

If  one  knew  the  amount  of  natural  chlorine  in. a  given 
water,  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  subtract  this  from  the 
total  amount  found  in  analysis  to  determine  the  amount  of 
chlorine  added  from  artificial  sources.  This  at  once  gives, 
as  can  readily  be  seen,  a  measure  of  the  amount  of  the  con- 
tamination to  which  a  water  has  been  subjected,  for  chlorine 


1  Professor  Smith  has  kindly  permitted  the  author  to  use  his  article 
for  this  appendix.  The  article  was  originally  a  report  to  the  Connect- 
icut State  Board  of  Health. 

(71) 


72  APPENDIX. 

once  added  to  water  remains  in  it,  since  it  is  not  removed 
by  nitration,  by  sedimentation,  or  by  the  growth  of  plants. 
by  which  means  the  other  constituents  of  sewage  contami- 
nation may  be  largely  or  entirely  removed. 

A  knowledge  of  the  amount  of  natural  chlorine,  or,  as 
it  may  be  better  called,  the  normal  chlorine,  of  the  waters  of 
a  region  is  of  great  importance,  therefore,  as  giving  data  for 
correctly  interpreting  one  of  the  important  items  of  a  sani- 
tary water-analysis.  That  it  is  possible  to  determine  within 
reasonable  limitations  the  normal  chlorine  of  a  region  was 
first  demonstrated  by  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of 
Health,  as  one  of  the  important  scientific  deductions  from 
the  systematic  analysis  of  the  drinking-waters  of  that  State. 
In  1891,  in  the  Report  of  the  Connecticut  State  Board  of 
Health,  there  was  also  published  a  small  map  of  this  State. 
containing  data  which  had  been  obtained  in  the  analysis  of 
our  drinking-waters.  These  data  showed  that  the  chlorine 
in  the  pure  waters  of  Connecticut  presented  the  same  regu- 
larity of  distribution  as  in  Massachusetts.  Since  that  time 
many  more  analyses  have  been  made,  and  from  the  data 
now  at  hand  the  accompanying  map  has  been  prepared. 

On  this  map  is  shown  the  average  amount  of  chlorine 
found  in  waters  which  are  considered  suitable  for  the  pur- 
pose in  various  parts  of  the  State.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
amounts  vary  from  about  one  to  six  parts  per  million,  and 
further  that  the  amounts  are  largest  along  the  southern 
border  of  the  State,  and  decrease  as  one  goes  north  and  west. 
The  lines  on  the  map  are  drawn  through  places  which 


THE    NORMAL    DISTRIBUTION    OF    CHLORINE.  73 

appear  to  have  the  same  average  normal  chlorine, — i.e.,  they 
are  isochlor-lines.  By  locating  a  source  of  water  on  the 
map,  therefore,  one  can  determine  the  amount  of  chlorine 
which  may  be  expected  to  be  in  it  from  natural  sources. 

The  limitation  of  the  use  of  such  a  map  will  become  evi- 
dent by  a  consideration  of  the  sources  of  normal  chlorine, 
and  an  inspection  of  the  data  on  which  the  map  is  founded. 

The  natural  sources  of  chlorine  in  waters  found  in 
springs,  streams,  ponds,  and  fresh-water  lakes  can  only  be: 
First,  from  compounds  of  chlorine  existing  in  the  rocks  and 
soil  with  which  the  water  has  come  in  contact,  and  from 
which  it  has  dissolved  them.  Second,  deposits  of  chlorine 
compounds  on  the  surface,  as  from  spray  blown  in  from 
bodies  of  salt  water.  Third,  from  chlorine  existing  in  rain- 
water as  it  falls.  "What  may  be  spoken  of  a  geological  chlo- 
rine might  come  from  deposits  of  common  salt,  and  in  cer- 
tain regions  this  would  certainly  be  an  important  source  of 
chlorine  in  many  spring-waters.  If  the  normal  chlorine  of 
our  waters  was  derived  from  small  quantities  of  salt,  or  other 
chlorides  diffused  in  our  rocks,  or  from  minerals  which 
yield  chlorine  on  decomposition,  then  spring-waters,  after 
percolating  through  the  soil,  would  contain  more  chlorine 
than  small  fresh-water  ponds  supplied  with  surface-water 
from  adjacent  water-sheds.  But  this  is  not  the  case,  for  the 
ground-waters  do  not  contain  more  chlorine  than  spring- 
waters  of  the  same  region;  of  course,  this  does  not  apply  to 
certain  deep  waters,  which  furnish,  sometimes,  large 
amounts  of  chlorine,  probably  of  geological  origin.  If  the 


74  APPENDIX. 

normal  chlorine  of  our  surface-  and  spring-  waters  is  not 
geological  in  character,  we  must  turn  to  the  sea  as  its 
source.  That  it  is  of  marine  origin  is  clearly  shown  by  a 
study  of  the  maps,  for  the  amounts  rapidly  diminish  in 
zones  marked  by  lines  approximately  parallel  to  the  coast- 
lines. 

Whether  the  salt  is  blown  up  from  the  surface  of  the 
ocean  as  spray  and  carried  inland  by  the  winds  in  the  form 
of  dust  which,  falling  to  the  earth,  is  dissolved  by  the  fallen 
rain,  or  whether  the  chlorine  is  blown  inland  during  rain- 
storms, is  not  significant.  It  would  seem  that  salt  might  be 
carried  inland  in  both  ways. 

If  the  normal  chlorine  of  our  waters  is  due  to  that  con- 
tained in  the  rain,  it  is  clear  that  it  must  exceed  that  found 
ir  the  rain-water  in  proportion  to  the  concentration  effected 
by  evaporation.  The  amount  of  this  evaporation  may  be 
inferred  from  the  relation  of  the  flow  of  streams  of  a  region 
to  its  rain-fall. 

The  flow  of  Connecticut  streams  may  be  placed  at  about 
60  per  cent,  of  the  annual  rain-fall;  consequently  that  part 
of  the  normal  chlorine  due  to  chlorine  in  rain  would  be 
expressed  by  increasing  the  chlorine  of  the  rain  according 
to  the  ratio  of  60  to  100.  In  the  following  tables  is  given, 
in  parts  per  million,  the  average  chlorine  in  the  rain  at  each 
of  the  stations,  and  also  the  figures  obtained  by  correcting 
for  evaporation  in  the  ratio  of  60  to  100,  together  with  the 
normal  chlorine  of  the  station,  as  derived  from  the  chlorine 
map. 


THE    NOEMAL    DISTRIBUTION    OF    CHLORINE.  75 

The  agreement  between  the  observed  normal  chlorine 
and  the  figures  calculated  from  the  observations  on  the  rain 
is  rather  surprising,  considering  the  errors  to  which  the 
method  was  subject. 

TABLE  SHOWING  AVERAGE  CHLORINE  IN  RAIN  IN  COM- 
PARISON WITH  NORMAL  CHLORINE  AT 
THE  SAME  STATION. 

Station.  Rain  Cl.        Corrected        Normal 

Cl.  Cl. 

Canaan    0.8  1.3  1.3 

Waterbury   1.2  2.0  2.0 

Hartford 1.3  2.2  1.8 

Bridgeport    1.6  2.7  3.0 

New  Haven 2.0  3.3  3.2 

New  London   2.2  3.7  3.5 

From  the  observations  and  considerations  which  have 
been  presented  we  must  accept  the  proposition  that  the 
normal  chlorine  is  of  marine  origin,  and  is  mostly  conveyed 
inland  during  rain-storms.  This  conclusion  at  once  shows 
us  that  the  normal  chlorine  cannot  be  a  fixed  quantity  at 
any  one  place,  but  must  vary  from  time  to  time  with  the 
character  of  the  storms.  Eain-storms  accompanied  by  high 
southeast  winds  would  appear  especially  favorable  for  carry- 
ing salt  inland  over  Connecticut.  That  the  chlorine  found 
in  our  uncontaminated  waters  is  not  constant  at  any  one 
place  is  clearly  shown  by  the  various  series  of  analyses  form- 
ing the  data  on  which  the  map  is  based.  The  results  from 
any  one  source  may  vary  as  much  as  50  to  100  per  cent., 


76  APPENDIX. 

especially  when  the  amount  of  chlorine  is  small.  Usually., 
however,  the  variations  from  the  average  are  less  than  this, 
and  for  the  most  part  do  not  amount  to  more  than  0.5  part 
per  million.  Obviously  samples  from  small  streams  which 
would  he  greatly  influenced  by  any  considerable  rain-fall 
must  be  less  regular  in  the  amount  of  chlorine  which  they 
contain  than  samples  from  large  reservoirs  or  lakes  in  which 
the  rain  from  many  streams  will  be  mixed.  From  this  it 
follows  that,  while  the  true  condition  of  a  large  body  of 
water  may  be  shown  by  a  single  analysis,  a  series  of  exami- 
nations might  be  required  from  a  small  stream  to  obtain  a 
reliable  average. 

It  is  also  obvious  that  the  natural  chlorine  of  a  long 
stream  is  not  that  of  the  locality  from  which  a  sample  may 
happen  to  be  taken,  but  is  rather  that  of  the  average  of  its 
water-shed  above  the  place  in  question.  For  instance,  the 
average  chlorine  in  the  Connecticut  Eiver  at  Goodspeed's 
Landing  during  1890-'91  was  1.4,  while  the  normal  waters 
of  that  region  show  about  three  parts  of  chlorine,  and  yet 
the  river  receives  large  quantities  of  sewage  from  Hartford, 
Middletown,  and  other  towns  draining  into  it. 

The  natural  chlorine  of  the  Connecticut  River  must  be 
somewhat  under  one  part  per  million,  for  the  bulk  of  its 
water  comes  from  Massachusetts  and  above.  In  the  light 
of  its  normal,  therefore,  the  contamination  that  exists  at 
Goodspeed's  Landing  is  clearly  seen,  although  the  contami- 
nation is  not  great  enough  to  raise  the  chlorine  from  a  low 
normal  up  to  the  figures  which  would  be  normal  at  that 


THE    NORMAL    DISTRIBUTION    OF    CHLORINE.  77 

place,  this  being  due  to  the  great  bulk  of  water  which  flows 
in  the  river.  Even  a  large  amount  of  sewage  discharged 
into  a  stream  may  not  increase  the  chlorine  beyond  the 
natural  variations  during  periods  of  large  flowage.  Usu- 
ally, however,  the  effect  becomes  obvious  in  dry  weather. 
Along  the  sea-coast  the  variations  in  natural  chlorine  are 
greater  than  they  are  further  inland.  This  is  seen  in  the 
greater  variations  in  the  samples  from  the  same  source  at 
different  times,  and  especially  in  the  marked  difference  in 
samples  a  short  distance  apart.  This  seems  to  depend,  in 
some  instances,  on  local  conditions  which  favor  the  pre- 
cipitation of  the  salt-laden  rain  or  spray. 


*»          .«&          T        2~         jg 


Fig.  20.— Map  of  Connecticut,  Showing  Distribution  of  Chlorine.  Chlorine 
is  expressed  in  parts  per  million.  The  heavy  lines  indicate  the  normal 
chlorine.  The  figures  show  observed  chlorine  iu  waters  which  are 
normal  or  nearly  so. 


INDEX. 


Air-space  in  schools   62 

in  New  York  City  schools 62 

Artesian  wells   4 

Atlantic-Coast  plain   4 

1'uffalo  graveyard,  dangers  at 69 

Cess-pools 42 

Chlorine,  examination  for    23 

in  rain    75 

natural    71,  72 

normal     23,  24,  71-77 

sources  of   73 

Cisterns    14 

construction   of    15 

filter   for    15,  16,  17 

leakage  of   18 

size   of    15 

Cistern-water    18 

collection  of    18 

examination   of    18 

size  of  roof  for  collecting   15 

Clay    8 

Clays,  non-nitrifying    . 70 

Country  houses,  class  of  32 

Dead,  disposal  of ) . .  .  68 

Poore's  experiments  on   68 

Distance  of  v,  ell  from  privy,  calculation  of  6 

Drain,  subsoil    38,  41 

amount  of  land  needed  for   38 

amount  of  tiles   38 

construction  of   .  .  38.  41 


80  INDEX. 

PAGK 

Drain,    surface    33,  37 

of  cobble-stones   37 

of  ordinary  bricks   37,  39 

of  perforated  bricks   37 

of  tin  roof-gutter   34.  3.5 

"Dry-catch"   privy    30 

Dry  closet,  model 29,  30 

Dry  earth-closets   26-28 

absorbent  for   28 

contents,  disposal  of    28 

Dwellings    56 

drain  for  foundation  of 57 

foundations  of 56 

ground-air  in   58 

materials  for  cellar- bottom  o: r^ 

ventilation  and  heating  of  59 


Earth-burial     68-70 

Lossener's  experiments  on    69 

Emergency  hospitals    65 

Excreta    25 

disposal  of ! 28 

experiments  on  disposal  of   29 


Floor-space    62 

Foundations    56 

asphalt  in    59 

Colonel  Waring  on    57,  58 

external  packing  fur 58 

Xorth  River  blue  stone  in  .  59 


Garbage    42.  47 

combustible  part  of   47 

non- combustible  part  of   .47 

putrescible  part   of    45,  47 

separation  of    42 


INDEX.  81 

PAGE 

Geological  strata   3 

basins    3,  4 

Germs,  pathogenic,  life  of,  in  soil  69,  70 

Graveyards,  dangers  of  69 

Ground-air    54,  58 

composition  of   54 

movements  of 55 

Ground-moisture    50 

and  malaria    51 

and  phthisis    51 

Ground- water    51 

and  disease   53 

level    9,  52 

lowering  of 54 

movements    52 

origin 52 

Pettenkofer's  theory  of  53 

Harrisburg  sewage  in  river  at 20 

Heating  59 

by  stoves  59 

with  and  without  air-shafts  60,  61 

of  schools  63 

Hoborn,  Eng.,  church-yard  at  70 

Humus  48 

absorptive  power  of   50 

Irrigation  bed,  plan  of  subsoil 41 

Irrigation  field    42,  43 

Isochlor-lines    73 

Kitchen  sink    41 

Koch,  on  treating  old  wells  9 

Lakes    19 

"Living  earth,"  the    48 

Lossener,  on  life  of  pathogenic  germs 69 


82  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Malaria    51 

Manhattan  Island,  strata  on  4 

Mine  drainage 20,  21 

Miintz,   on   nitrification    49 

Nitrification    49 

products  of  49 

N  itrifying  bacteria   49 

Pettenkofers   theory    53 

Phthisis    51 

Plymouth,  Pa.,  typhoid  epidemic  at 2,  20 

Polarite    17 

Poore,  on  disposal  of  excreta  29 

on  dry-catch  privy    30,  31 

on  earth-burial  of  cadaver   68 

on  humification  of  faeces 32 

on  shallow  wells   11 

Privy  leakage   2,  3 

Privy  vault    26 

Rain-fall,  annual 14 

Eain-water    18 

storage  of   14 

River- water 19 

Rooms,  heating  with  stoves 60 

Schloessing,  on  nitrification   49 

School-buildings 60 

construction   of    62 

floor-space   for    62 

heating  of   63 

privy  attachments  of 64 

seating  capacity  of   63 

ventilation  of   63 

School-hygiene    60 

"Sink-holo?"    .  8 


INDEX. 

PAGE 

Slops,  bed-room  41 

disposal  of  41 

Soil,  the  48 

life  of  48 

nitrifying  properties  of  49 

surface  48 

Springs 19 

"Sulphur- water"    20,  22 

Tiles,  mode  of  laying,  for  drains 41 

Typhoid  fever  at  Bethlehem,  Pa 8 

at  Gerlachsheim    1 

at  Plymouth,  Pa 20 

Ventilating-stove 60,  63 

arrangement  of  air-shafts  for 64 

Ventilation    59 

Waring,  Colonel,  on  drainage  of  building  sites 56,  57 

on  foundation  making   58,  59 

Warrington,  on  nitrification    49 

Waste   disposal    25 

Waste,  kitchen    45 

combustible    45,  47 

non-combustible    45,  47 

putrescible    45,  47 

separation  of  solid  and  liquid 34 

water    47 

Water  "under  pressure"    18 

Water-bearing  zones,  in  cretaceous  strata   5 

in  miocene  strata   5 

in  New  Jersey   4 

Waters,  slop-    32 

disposal  of 33 

Water-supply    1 

in  coal  regions   20 

pollution   of    .20 


84  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Wells  1 

artesian  4,  1 1 

deep  3,  4 

in  clay .  .  .  8 

in  gravel  8 

in  horizontal  strata  11,  4 

in  limestone  7 

in  slate  3 

in  upturned  strata  5,  14 

shallow  11 

tube  7,  11 

Wells,  Sir  Spencer,  on  graveyard  leakage 69 

Well-water,  chlorine  in  23 

examination  of 22 

Winogradski,  on  nitrification    49 

Zurich,  typhoid  fever  at    53 


<3> 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

"%^« 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


APR  2  3  1965 


wS 

BAY  IS  1965, 

V"1    1973 

T&R&K&>M 


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